Nazarick In The Real World
by DarkPaladin000
Summary: Momonga, rather than being transported to the new world, is sent to his own real world: the Earth of the year 2138 along with the Great Tomb of Nazarick and with all his powers intact. He just needs to find a way to explain to all of the NPCs that their creators are actually humans- but what will happen when they know of how much their creators have suffered in this real world?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I do not own the rights to Overlord. This story begins much in the same way that the original one does, so I'm not going to recap that bit, but I'll start off with Momonga flying outside the tomb along with Demiurge, as that's when things really do begin to deviate from the original story.**

**I will be using bold font for the spells and skills as I don't know how to do those weird symbols in the original books, and italics are people thinking things.**

* * *

**Prologue**

**Place:** The Real World, Year 2138

**Time:** Minutes Before Momonga Gets Isekai'd

Momonga had been sad when he thought about how Yggdrasil was ending, but truth be told, there were many people far sadder than he was.

Once such person was a man who was staying by his father's bedside. His father had been injured in a work related accident, though the company had refused to pay the appropriate compensation for this. As such, with the insurance company backing out too, the man could do nothing but watch his old man as he suffered greatly. Even if his father lived, he would be disabled for the rest of his life.

The man's father gave the man a weak smile, and as always, told him to place his faith in the Almighty.

The man sighed as he glanced at the cross held in his hand. In the year 2138 most organized forms of religion had long since died out, but there were still millions who clung to their old faith. His family had been part of such a group, but as the man considered his life up till now he couldn't help but doubt the existence of such a being.

And then the clock struck midnight

When it did that, a huge wall of white enveloped the world. The wall of white seemed to have no physical form, and it travelled through buildings, through caves, through the ocean, through any structure at all effortless. It covered the entire world within the matter of a few minutes.

The man, naturally, was dazed at such an occurrence, and examined himself.

It didn't seem as if anything had happened to his body, thankfully.

While his body was intact though, he had a new sensation in his mind. It was as if he had downloaded a library of novels directly into his brain- something he had considered himself to be too poor to ever be able to accomplish.

But this new information was not information on science or technology, but of a new way of understanding the world

Yes, somehow, magic was real. And he could use it. He even knew what spells he could use- thirty in total. And there were also 'tiers' of magic- he understood this immediately. He could use magic up to the third tier.

Furthermore, instinctively, he knew what each of them could do.

The man glanced at the cross in his hand and felt his faith stir up yet again as he turned his gaze to his father.

"**Heavy Recover**," the man said.

Miles away, an man taking a long walk home up a mountainside was shocked when he saw the endless wall of light crash into him, but it had done him no harm.

He glanced upwards and saw that he was still at least an hour away from his destination. He grasped his knees- he should not have had osteoarthritis at this age, but work had taken its tool on his body. He had been forced to live here, on the fringes of society due to lack of money. His house was located on a very high hill, and there was no easy road to go up there. Normally he would have to walk all the way up there.

But, as he racked his brains, he found a very easy solution to this problem.

"**Fly**," the man said, not fully comprehending what was happening as his body took to the air.

Several hundred miles away, in an apartment building, a single mother was busy doing the dishes. She was so engrossed in her work that she hadn't even noticed the wall of light when midnight struck.

She was interrupted from her task only when she heard her daughter's voice. "Mommy! Mommy! Look at my new fwiend!"

"Oh honey, you should be asleep right now. You have school tomorrow," she answered back without even looking up. She had no time to hear about whatever imaginary friend her daughter had made this time around- especially given how much work there was to be done.

But then, she noticed a distinctive growl.

She turned around and then immediately doubled-back as she saw her daughter holding hands with what looked like a demon.

The creature smiled at her. It was an ugly, deformed, red lump of meat with glittering yellow eyes.

"I'm going to call him Mister Numnums and we're going to be bestest fwiends in the whole wide world," her daughter said. "Isn't that wight Mister Numnums?"

Her mother had no idea what to say. She couldn't even find the strength to scream.

"Your wish is my command, O Summoner," the creature answered her daughter with a fiendish smile.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Guildmaster Part One**

**Place: **Outside The Great Tomb Of Nazarick

**Time: **The Present

"Hmm," Demiurge gruntled in disgust.

Momonga felt the same way. His skeletal body was not affected by the air, most likely because Undead were immune to poisoning.

But, while not affected by it, he did know immediately that it was heavily polluted. His lungs would start burning if he still had them.

'Radiation is just spicy air.' He did not remember which one of his guild members had said that, but it had come to his mind unbidden. He was sure whoever had said it had been joking, but strangely enough it described how Momonga felt in his new body about the radiation and pollution around him.

The two of them couldn't even see the stars above them- so thick was the smog covering the atmosphere that even after several minutes of flying upwards they still had not managed to clear it and gaze at the stars above.

Momonga could barely see Demiurge for that matter even though the latter was only a few meters away. His Undead vision let him see through darkness, but not through smoke unfortunately.

"Shall we leave, Momonga-sama?" Demiurge asked. "There does not appear to be anything of value in this strange land. It is corrupted beyond salvation and I see nothing of value here."

The place where Nazarick had appeared was a barren wasteland. There was a lake nearby but the water was so filthy it looked like motor oil. There were no other settlements nearby, nor any greenery.

_It's just like the real_ world, Momonga thought as the possibility came to him that he might have been transported to the real world. If so...

Momonga removed his black armor. He couldn't cast spells while wearing the thing.

If this was the real world, it would be easy enough to check that fact out. **Greater Teleportation **normally had a list of locations one had to register, but it worked differently now and would let him teleport anywhere he had been before.

_In that case, can I go back to my_ room?

Momonga's skeletal body had never been there, but he, as a human, had been. It was worth trying.

Without consulting Demiurge, Momonga cast the spell.

"**Greater Teleportation!**"

Instantly, he found himself back in a familiar place.

His non-existent heart skipped a beat. This was his apartment- it was exactly the way he had left it.

Granted, it was far too small for him given how larger his Overlord body was compared to the body of a human- he had to hunch up and even then his head scraped the roof above him.

And then he saw it.

He saw himself. He saw Suzuki Satoru, still plugged into his Dive gear.

It made no sense. If he was here, how was he also over there?

Momonga realized that something was very off as he saw that the Dive equipment had been turned off. As he approached his own body a sinking feeling engulfed him.

It was so strange to see one's own body laid out before oneself, and to peer at it through eyes that were not one's own.

Momonga touched his human body with a skeletal finger and was shocked to find that his body- his human body, did not respond to that touch.

He had not registered it till now, but he realized had not heard a heartbeat even with his enhanced hearing or seen Suzuki's chest rise even with his enhanced vision. The room was dark, but that meant nothing to Momonga.

Momonga gripped Suzuki's wrist. Unlike as he had with Albedo before in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, he felt no pulse.

A wave of anguish and confusion drenched him. What was this? He was dead!? Well, technically in this body he was dead of course... but why was his own corpse right there before him!?

Momonga felt his feelings immediately suppressed. With his panic settled down a little bit, he turned to the computer on his desk. He could not use the Dive gear given it was far too small for him, and for that matter this computer's keyboard was far too small for his giant hands. However, he still could at the very least find a way to use it.

He booted it up and entered his password. Indeed, it was his usual password- so this was not some form of elaborate illusion or trickery.

He checked the date- it was the day after Yggdrasil was being shut down, and the time was just a few hours after midnight.

_Have I really been transported back home?_

He turned around to glance at the corpse-

_No! What am I thinking! That's not just some corpse- that's MY human body!_

He thought about this and planned his next move.

He could not go out into a human city looking like this- and he was very glad that the Great Tomb of Nazarick had not been found by other humans. Granted, that was probably because they were in a wasteland somewhere.

His next move should be to try and hide them from human eyes as long as he possibly could.

He then remembered- Demiurge! He had given Demiurge no explanation as to where he was going and why.

Chastising himself, he grabbed Suzuki Satoru's body and cast **Greater Teleportation** again.

He found himself back in the sky and cast the **Fly **spell in order to remain afloat.

"Demiurge?" he called into the smog but got no response.

He descended towards the ground, figuring that no matter what happened, Demiurge would end up coming back to Nazarick.

He had barely cleared the smog when a voice screamed at him. "MY LIEGE! MOMONGA-SAMA, WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE DID YOU GO? WHY DID YOU ABANDON-"

Demiurge took a few seconds to take the situation into consideration as he descended. He looked very misshapen and worried, a stark contrast from his usual self.

"Relax, Demiurge," Momonga said soothingly. "I remembered something important I had to do, so I had to go elsewhere."

Demiurge calmed down quite a few notches before noticing the corpse in Momonga's hands. "Ah, did that insect do something to displease you?"

Momonga squirmed. That was his own body they were talking about! Still though, he couldn't fault Demiurge as Demiurge did not know.

Oh no! He suddenly realized. What was he going to tell the floor guardians about what had happened to them? Would they accept an explanation such as 'This is my original human form?'

"We have work to do, more on this later," Momonga said as he descended and saw the Mare was busy at work creating hills.

Now that he thought about it, this was a bad idea. This sort of activity might alert them to any humans in the surrounding area. But, he couldn't exactly cancel an order like that.

Urgh, what should he do next?

He descended and Mare spotted him. Momonga saw Albedo approach from nearby.

Both of them bowed their heads deeply and then looked at what Momonga was holding.

"Eh? M-Momonga-sama, why are you holding that human like that?" Mare asked.

"Indeed," Albedo said. "The hands of a Supreme One such as yourself should not be sullied with carrying a maggot like this."

_Please stop talking about me like that!_

But instead of saying that, Momonga instead turned to Demiurge. "Ah, Demiurge- I have a question. I am not very familiar with human anatomy, but I believe that this, ah, human has been dead for at most a few hours?"

Demiurge looked quizzically at Momonga before inspecting the corpse. "Indeed, Momonga-sama, I believe four to five hours is at maximum the timespan during which his life was taken."

"Can you ascertain the cause of death?" Ainz asked. "I need to know it for- experimental purposes."

Demiurge grinned broadly. "Ah, yes, experimental purposes. As expected of one such as yourself, Momonga-sama. If you will hand over the corpse to me, I will try to inspect what might have caused its death."

Something about the way that Demiruge smiled rubbed Momonga the wrong way and he swore to not let his own dead body out of his sight. "Ah, I see no need for that right now."

"I will be retiring to my room for a while," Momonga then added. He turned towards Mare. "Mare, please cease with building these hills."

"H-have I upset you in some way, Momonga-sama? Did I n-not do it properly?" Mare said with widened eyes. He was already bowing apologetically.

"No, nothing like that," Momonga said. "It's just that I have reconsidered the plan."

Momonga wanted to scream in frustration. He just wanted to be left alone for a while- why was that so difficult?

"I will be spending some time in my own room," Momonga barked as Albedo opened her mouth. "I do not wish to be disturbed. Keep all of Nazarick's activities to a minimum, and try not to attract any unwanted attention. Send no one outside- but alert me if we are noticed by outside forces or if it appears an army is gathering towards our location."

"Yes, Momonga-sama!" came the replies from three different mouths.

* * *

Momonga returned to his chambers- his chambers within the Great Tomb, that is, and laid down Suzuki Satoru's human body gently onto the bed.

Now with some peace and quiet, he thought about how to proceed.

As he racked his brains, he remembered something. The others! The other guild members- it was possible that they had been transformed just like he had been. For all he knew, all of humanity might have been transformed.

Given that information, what should he try to do? It would make sense to visit them. He could probably start with Herohero, whom he had met just minutes before the game had shut down.

Momonga teleproted to and from his old apartment and brought back everything that was not nailed down.

Granted, his Dive gear would not work without a power outlet, but his computer could last a few hours without one with its internal battery. However, this also meant that he would not have Internet access in the Great Tomb, so Momonga was forced to go back to his old apartment to check up stuff online anyway.

But first, he inspected his own human body first. He felt a little embarassed at having to strip himself down- granted, it was his own body, but it still felt weird and... not right somehow.

He saw no signs of injury upon himself, and as he looked at his own head, he saw no burn marks. His human body seemed perfectly unharmed, aside from the fact that he was dead.

He thought about using resurrection magic and what might happen with it if he tried- but he decided that experimenting on himself was far too risky an undertaking to take a chance with.

Momonga then went back to his apartment and started looking up Herohero's address. Once he found it, he entered the coordinates into Google Maps, and saw where Herohero's apartment was. Once he had a good image of the place, he knew he could teleport there with ease.

Momonga realized he had to do two things.

First, he needed to gather his old guild mates.

Second, he needed to keep the NPCs from doing something that would cause them to be detected. He shuddered as he considered the fact that a satellite could be hovering over their location at the moment.

As such, he used **Message **to tell Albedo to gather the important floor guardians in the throne room.

He wouldn't give them the whole story, just as much as they needed to know for now.

Then he would head outside. Preferably alone...

**A/N: I hoped you liked it!**

**First off, I'm sorry but I don't have any way of knowing how advanced future tech is. There was talk that one guild member had subdermal bulletproof implants? And I'm not sure if computers would still have keyboards or if Google would even exist, but I needed it for the story and I assume if not Google, some other company would have a service like Google Maps in the future.**

**I was going to make this a bit longer but then I ran into two problems.**

**First, I'm not Japanese and I'm not good with making up Japanese names. I mean, as far as I know, aside from Suzuki Satoru, the names of any of the other guild members hasn't been revealed. I was just going to slap on anime names I knew (I was going to have Herohero legitimately named Sasuke Uchiha and have his backstory be his parents loved Naruto) but is there any better option you guys might know? **

**Secondly, I felt I was rushing the story a little bit too much, and I realized that I wasn't going to capture the full range of some of the character's emotions (namely how Albedo would react to Ainz rescuing one of the other Supreme Beings) and I feel like I want to go ahead and do that justice rather than rush it.**

**So yeah, I hope you enjoyed it. I haven't read all the novels, so if I make a mistake with Overlord lore, I apologize but feel free to correct me. And yes, do leave a review telling me what you thought of the fanfic.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: To start off with- thanks for the amazing response guys! I never expected a fanfiction of mine would get this much attention at the first chapter itself!**

* * *

Momonga paced around in his room. Albedo had used **Message **to inform him that the Floor Guardians were ready to receive him.

As he was about to leave, his eyes went to Suzuki Satoru's- no, his own corpse which was lying naked on his bed.

It would be odd to have a naked human corpse on his bed, so Momonga figured he might as well dress his dead body up before leaving.

However, it turned out to be a hard task since he was doing it in the third person, and he still felt embarrassed handling someone else's naked body.

_No- what am I thinking? This is my body, and it is perfectly normal for people to touch themselves- no wait, that's not what I meant!_

Momonga had awkwardly managed to place his own corpse back into its normal work clothes.

He thought about what to do with it- he didn't want to leave it alone in his room, especially since someone might walk in and take it.

Then, a lightbulb turned on over his head as he got an idea, picked up his own body, and walked to the throne room.

In the throne room, Albedo, Demiurge, Coccytus, Aura, Mare, Shalltear, and Sebas were kneeling before the throne. The Pleiades were also there, but they stood behind the Floor Guardians and arranged against the wall.

Momonga sat down on the throne and propped up his former body next to it.

"Raise your heads," he said and the Guardians complied. "We have much to do today- and the first order of business is... I would like for you to give your opinion on this human body."

Momonga motioned to well, himself. Or what he had been earlier, so to speak. He wanted to know what the Guardians would think of his human form.

Shalltear was the first to speak up. "Well, I may be a necrophiliac, but even I wouldn't hit that."

Momonga's jaw hung wide open. That was... not the answer he had been looking for.

"I do believe it is a slightly above average human specimen," Demiurge said. Momonga thought that that was far better.

Momonga knew that his human body was rather unremarkable, so Demiurge was right on the mark when he said that.

"I believe we may put it to many uses," Demiurge said.

_Huh? What's he talking about?_

"For example, we can use the skin to create at least two to three scrolls to hold magic spells in them," Demiurge said. "The excess skin leftover can be used as leather, the hair can be used to make brushes, the vocal cords can be given to Entoma, and about twenty kilograms of food can be harvested for use by Kyouhukou. Furthermore, the fat can be used as cooking oil, the bones can be ground into charcoal, and any leftover bones can have ornamental value for the art project that I have considered working on."

_That's my dead body you're talking about! Don't talk about it as if it's a piece of meat! Have some respect for the dead- no wait, technically I'm still alive, or rather, I do have my unlife... and come to think of it, what kind of art project requires human bones?_

Momonga did not say any of this out loud however, but mentally made a note to not let Demiurge within fifty feet of his corpse.

At the very least, he was sure that Shalltear would not desecrate it, so in that matter Shalltear was more worthy than Demiurge.

"Forgive. Me. I. Am. Not. An. Expert. In. Humans. But. This. One. Seems. Unremarkable," Coccytus muttered.

"I too, believe that this is an average human specimen," Sebas said succinctly.

"I agree," Aura said. "Nothing too special about him."

"Uh, y-yeah, it's just a normal human," Mare said.

Momonga sighed a little. These people had given a far better answer than either Shalltear or Demiurge.

"And you, Albedo?" Momonga asked. She alone of the Floor Guardians had not answered.

Albedo smiled sweetly.

"This is a vile, unsightly creature, unbefitting to stand in the same room as that of you, O Supreme One," Albedo said. "However, had it been alive, I would have delighted in tearing its head off."

She smiled all the while as she said that.

_Uwah! That's way too scary!_

And, at that very moment, Suzuki Satoru's pants fell off.

It seemed that Momonga had, in his haste, not put them on properly.

"And, to top it all off," Albedo added. "The size of his manhood appears to be far below average, even for a human. I do not think even a lower succubus would want anything to do with such a man."

_Agh! Is there a button that lets you commit suicide in game? I want to use it!_

Before Momonga could get too depressed, his emotions were surpassed.

However, the emotional suppression simply blunted the majority of his feelings.

He still felt a deep sense of shame inwardly simmering inside him though.

There was no way he was going to tell the Floor Guardians that that was his true form now.

"Ah, yes, well moving on," Momonga said, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible even as he hastily put his pants back on his own corpse.

Could this day get any worse?

"The next move we must make is to gather the other guild members- the other Supreme Beings if you will," Momonga said.

This was met with shock all over.

"Momonga-sama, will the other Supreme Beings truly be joining us?" Demiurge asked as his tail wagged to and fro like that of a puppy's.

"Indeed," Momonga said. "First of all though, I will be going to fetch Herohero-san, who I met just a few hours earlier. After that, I will work my way around to gathering the others, including Touch Me, Ulbert, Tabula, Bukubukuchagama, Takemikazuchi, Blue Planet, and Peroroncino. But first, I will go to Herohero."

As Momonga mentioned the name of each of their creator's, the Floor Guardians eyes lit up. Aura and Mare looked at each other excitedly. It was not possible to discern Coccytus' expressions, but he clicked his mandibles rapidly. Demiurge began wagging his tail even more fervently, and Shalltear sat wide-eyed.

Solution had perked up at the mention of her creator's name, but had not said anything. Sebas, much like her, seemed to take the stoic approach.

The only exception was Albedo. Her wide smile had disappeared and she seemed to wear a frown on her face. Even the name of Tabula had not brought her warm smile back.

"Eh? Is something the matter, Albedo?" Momonga asked.

"Forgive this one for speaking," Albedo said. "And if you should find it necessary, you may detach my head from my shoulders for saying this- but given that the other Supreme Beings had left us for so long, and I am assuming they did so voluntarily, would it be alright to try and bring them here against their wishes?"

Demiurge rounded fiercely against Albedo. "Albedo! How dare you! We exist to serve the Supreme Beings! There could be no greater joy than having them return to this glorious tomb once more!"

"Silence, Demiurge," Momonga said with a wave of his hand. He found Albedo's words to be unsettling.

No, as he thought about it, he realized that Albedo did sort of have a point. After all, the others had left because they were busy with their own lives, and they had done so willingly. If anything, if one thought about it, it was Momonga who was being selfish in demanding that they join him.

_Do the others want to come back? Would they be happy seeing what has happened to our guild? _

He had not considered what his friends may have wanted- perhaps they would want to stay clear of such a thing as their guild coming to real life? Momonga could not imagine someone like Touch Me, who had a wife and child, to want to leave that and join him.

In other words, Albedo had seen something that Momonga had not.

_She truly is worthy of her position as Guardian Overseer._

"Albedo has made a fine point, we cannot force the others to stay," Momonga said. Demiurge apologized.

As he thought about it, that meant that it would definitely be a bad idea to try and reach out to all of his friends all at once. It would be better to try with one of them first, see how they reacted, and then move on to the others as he had originally thought.

"That said however, Herohero had been with me just a few hours ago," Momonga said. He knew others in his guild better than he did Herohero, but he had not met with them as recently as he had with Herohero. It would be awkward for him to walk up to someone he hadn't talked to in several years.

Furthermore, it was possible that Herohero had been transformed just like Momonga had, given that Herohero had been online just a few minutes before midnight.

This only solidified his idea to talk to Herohero first. "As such, I think Herohero would gladly come back. To accomplish this, I shall be leaving immediately. My orders are that you all try to stay quiet as much as possible- and to possibly guard Nazarick with an illusion so it cannot be viewed from afar. Do not venture outside the tomb."

Momonga knew that a satellite could probably pick them up and was surprised that one hadn't already- unless they had been spotted and a human group was just waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Momonga-sama, please allow me to accompany you," Albedo said, the smile now back on her face. "I will assist you in greeting Herohero in person."

That was bad- he didn't know how they might react to seeing a human. "Ah, the thing is that we will be discussing a matter that is for Supreme Beings only."

Did that work? It was sort of like telling the employees in a company that there was a meeting for the Board of Directors only and that they couldn't share the details with everyone, Ainz thought. Such a thing would be annoying to the employees, but at the very least, they should understand that secrecy in certain matters was necessary.

Albedo seemed to accept that line of reasoning but opened her mouth again. "Ah, but Momonga-sama, the fact remains that with two Supreme Beings, we cannot leave your safety to chance. Please allow us to accompany you- we shall cover our ears if you so desire, but please let some guards stay near you."

Momonga thought about it. "Fine. But I will need someone skilled in stealth- and for that, I choose Aura to be my bodyguard."

"As you command, Momnga-sama!" Aura exclaimed with excitement.

Albedo seemed unhappy with this, but Momonga added, "I will allow only her to accompany me, no more. I will not listen to any objections."

Momonga chose Aura because she seemed unlikely to strike a human without just cause, her form was sort of human like and so she would not cause too much alarm even if spotted, and she was skilled in stealth.

"Ah, if it may please you Momonga-sama, may I suggest something?" Shalltear asked.

"Indeed, you may," Momonga said.

"Wouldn't it be faster if all of us split up to find the other Supreme Ones?" Shalltear asked. "I would have no objections to finding Peroroncino-sama by myself."

Momonga tried to imagine what would happen if Shalltear appeared at Peroroncino's doorstep. Or what would happen if Demiurge found Ulbert.

"No! I forbid it!" Momonga screamed harshly. "None of you are to try and contact the other Supreme Beings without my explicit permission!"

Shalltear bowed her head and deeply apologized- she looked to be almost on the verge of tears, and Momonga did feel sorry for screeching like that.

The others looked disappointed as well as shocked at Momonga's sudden outburst. "Ah, I apologize for shouting, but the thing is that there are certain matters that only Supreme Beings can understand. Uh, as such, the others might be offended if you were to suddenly appear before them."

"Ah, is that so?" Shalltear said. "Forgive me Momonga-sama, for this servant of the Supreme Beings never considered such a thing!"

"It is no worry so long as you understand now," Momonga said. Now, there was just one other matter: what was he going to do with his own corpse?

He didn't want to carry it around when he went to go meet with Herohero. Also, he didn't want to leave it with anyone here. Especially Demiurge.

His body was a very valuable item to him, understandably of course. So where should he keep it, and whom should he entrust it to?

Of course, when one thought of valuable items, there was only one place to put them.

"Albedo, give this human corpse to Pandora's Actor," Momonga said. "Tell him that it is important that this corpse not be manipulated, altered, or ah- _harvested_ in any way, aside from a preservation spell cast upon it. He is to guard it with his life."

"As you wish, Momonga-sama," Albedo said.

* * *

Albedo was the Guardian Overseer of Nazarick. She was the incarnation of femininity, and a paragon of ladylike qualities.

As such, Albedo did not know the meaning of the word cringe.

However, she had just gotten a crash course in Cringe 101 the moment she had stopped by Pandora's Actor's domain- the treasury of Nazarick.

It had only been ten minutes into explaining things to Pandora's Actor regarding what he had to do that she had already wanted to wring him by his neck.

Pandora's Actor struck a strange pose, and then said, "Understood, Albedo-sama. I shall carry out my creator's orders without fail!"

He then examined the corpse in question. "Tell me something... this body... do you not feel like it resembles that of Momonga-sama?"

Albedo was sure that she had misheard something, because whatever Pandora's Actor had just said was absolutely ridiculous.

"What are you saying?"

"I said, this human body seems to resemble Momonga-sama, my creator," Pandora's Actor said and thumped his hand over his chest.

A wave of black rage washed over Albedo. "How dare you? How dare you? How dare you compare the greatest of Supreme Beings with a lowly human maggot like this? For this, I should have your head!"

"Come on now, Al-'before anyone else'-do-sama," Pandora's Actor said with a wink when he said 'before anyone else.' Albedo thought that Pandora's Actor had meant for the wink to seem seductive or coy, but given the fact that he had no eyebrows or other facial features it just looked weird.

"Do not call me that ever again!"

"Eh? But don't close friends often give each other nicknames?" Pandora's Actor asked.

"I am the Guardian Overseer of Nazarick, and you are not to toy with my name like that," Albedo responded.

"Well, well, well, as I was saying though, being Momonga-sama's creation, I feel like I can understand him the best out of anyone," Pandora's Actor said. "And, as I recall, are you not as intelligent as you are beautiful, Albedo-sama? Then surely you must realize that this cannot be a simple ordinary human for Momonga-sama to treat it like this."

Albedo was greatly irritated at Pandora's Actor's words, but she couldn't help but feel that he had a point.

For one, she was quite jealous that this NPC knew more about Momonga-sama than she did- it was indeed possible he might have some insights that the others would not have regarding what Momonga-sama wanted.

And, Albedo couldn't help but remember how Momonga-sama had treated this human body with utmost care. It was so strange- that was why she had not been too harsh while describing it to Momonga-sama. It was almost as if her master revered the body or something.

"And I do believe, that you would recognize your creator, no matter what form he would be in?" Pandora's Actor asked. It was true, Albedo had recognized that Pandora's Actor was not Tabula the moment she had laid eyes on him. "In much the same vein, I can see sort of an 'echo' of Momonga-sama in this human's body. Just an echo though, I do know that this is not Momonga-sama at all, but it somehow reminds me of him- as if Momonga-sama had to choose a human body, well, then it would look like this."

Albedo considered the possibility. Could it be that this human body was one of her master's creations?

"But if that's the case, then what use could Momonga-sama have for such a body?" Albedo asked.

Pandora's Actor immediately gave her a huge thumbs-up. 'Very good Albedo-sama! Now you're thinking in the right direction!"

"Don't patronize me," Albedo growled. She had forgotten that despite Pandora's Actor's eccentric behavior, his intellect rivaled that of hers and Demiurge's.

Pandora's Actor then sat down and put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. All he needed was a pipe to look just like Sherlock Holmes in his classic contemplative pose.

There was a long dramatic silence in which Albedo held in her breath, wondering what conclusion Pandora's Actor would draw.

"Truth be told, I don't seem to have the slightest clue what he could want with it," he finally said.

Albedo almost did an 'anime fall' [if you watch anime you know what I'm talking about] but her inner nature would not allow it.

"Of course, that is only to be expected," Pandora's Actor said cooly. "After all, we are speaking of my creator, Momonga-sama! None of us could possibly hope to match his peerless intellect!"

"On that point, I agree with you," Albedo said. It was rather shameful that she could not understand what her master wanted, but she would just have to work harder to make up for that.

As she left, she turned her attention to another problem.

Namely, the fact that the other Floor Guardians had learned that their creators were out there somewhere in this world.

None of them had, thankfully, left the tomb, but Albedo felt like that was only the case because none of them knew exactly where their creators were, had no means of finding out their locations, and because Momonga-sama had explicitly forbidden them from leaving the tomb. Not to mention they were probably afraid of disappointing their creators given that Momonga-sama had said that it would be rude to approach them without another Supreme Being in tow.

Without any idea as to their creator's locations, Albedo thought that only Aura would dare to venture out into this world which was unexplored, and she was away with Momonga-sama.

She couldn't help but feel uneasy though. What if the other Supreme Beings turned against her love? Their creations would then also very probably turn against Nazarick, and she had to prepare in case that happened.

She of course, would remain loyal to the man she loved, even if Tabula-sama ordered her otherwise. In that sense, she could always rely on herself, and Pandora's Actor to help her.

In that case, she should probably try to buddy up with Pandora's Actor a little, no matter how much the idea of doing such soured her mind.

She also made a note to check up on Rubedo once she was sure that the others would not be going anywhere.

* * *

Herohero's actual name was Hiroshi Hirota. He had slept through the white wall which had engulfed the Earth that midnight, and for that matter, he had not been granted any new powers when it had hit him.

As such, he noticed nothing different as he got up to get ready for yet another day of drudgery.

He approached his mirror and noticed his own usual tired human self. He looked to be ten years older than he actually was, and his body felt horrible. He was constantly racked by body aches and needed sleeping pills in order to sleep or else he couldn't.

He would eat breakfast on his way to work, but before heading out, as was his habit, he checked to see if he had any messages.

There were a few weird ones. Many of them were from his colleagues, and most of them went along the lines of 'Have you checked the news?'

Well, Hiroshi hadn't and so he went ahead and checked the news. There were reports of strange things seen flying around various places in the world- many people thought they might be aliens.

One of his colleagues had remarked that his son had suddenly made some sort of weird robotic thing.

Hiroshi personally thought that if he had any children and they had made robots by themselves, well then, he would be quite happy with them, but this man seemed worried.

Just as he was browsing one last article before leaving, the computer screen froze and a message was displayed there:

_Due to the spread of a recent illness, the area under megacorp Google is currently under quarantine. A curfew is in effect immediately- citizens are hereby forbidden from leaving their homes or their places of employment and **will be shot at sight if seen outside**. All transport services are being shut down save for emergency services and those required by high-ranking officials. Access to the Internet is being revoked as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of false information and panic spreading. Citizens are requested to stay in their homes and await further instructions._

Hiroshi also had another message from his own employment office under the Megacorp stating that he didn't have to come in to work today.

He cursed under his breath.

A break from work was certainly welcome given that he practically lived in his office most days, but the thing was that he knew he likely would not be paid for this day.

Furthermore, if only he had been informed of this earlier, than he might as well have stayed up late playing Yggdrasil before the game shut down last night.

He looked outside and saw the flashes of police sirens. That surprised him.

This whole situation was surprising, if he was honest. Since when did megacorps care about people's health this much? Hiroshi had worked even when sick, and he knew that many people had died while working and that the megacorps only paid out a pitiable sum as life insurance money.

He could even hear the faint sounds of police sirens and gunfire outside and he shuddered. What was going on? Since when did the police actually do something in this world?

Well, whatever it was, it seemed that the main gate to his apartment complex had been electronically locked. There was no way to go outside- not that anyone would really want to. As such, whether he liked it or not, he was stuck here.

At times like this, he would probably have loved to go back to playing Yggdrasil, but with the game being down, he couldn't do that.

As a matter of fact, even if it wasn't down, given that he couldn't access the Internet, there was no real point even if the servers had stayed up.

He couldn't even contact anyone as all phones had been blocked.

He sighed and then sat upright as he heard a knock on his door.

Who could it be at this time?

Hiroshi opened the door and beheld a large skeleton, larger than any human, dressed in a dark robe.

Hiroshi smiled. "It's good to see you, Satoru-san!"

"Ah, yes," Suzuki replied in a deep voice that couldn't possibly be his own. "Well met, Hitora-san!"

Hiroshi had already pieced together what was happening.

Yes, clearly, Suzuki Satoru, the guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown, had talked with him last night and realized that Hiroshi was feeling down in the dumps, and decided to pay him a visit to cheer him up.

"That's an amazing cosplay you have," Hiroshi remarked. "I can't imagine how much it cost."

"Cosplay?" Suzuki muttered before adding, "Ah yes, well, I suppose that's- ah..."

But still, Hiroshi had to note that Suzuki's cosplay was beyond anything he had ever seen before. The detail was incredible- Suzuki could see every single ring that Momonga had in the actual game. And next to him- was that a Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown replica? The thing looked amazing!

Hiroshi couldn't imagine how much a costume and set of accessories like this could cost.

He remembered that Suzuki was a man who spent a third of his salary on Yggdrasil, but maybe once it was announced that Yggdrasil was closing he had channeled the funs to this project?

"But that said, you've picked a rather unlucky time to arrive here," Hiroshi remarked.

"Ah, I apologize for dropping in like this," Suzuki said hurriedly. "You must be busy and-"

"Oh no, no, that's not what I meant," Hiroshi said. Suzuki had apparently taken his comment out of context- namely that this was a bad time to drop in.

That wasn't it- rather, it was the fact that the curfew had just started. Suzuki would be stuck with Hiroshi for now.

Come to think it, Hiroshi found it odd that Suzuki could use public transport while dressed like this, and even more importantly, that the apartment's security had let him walk in without even calling Hiroshi.

Ah well, he guessed some people couldn't be counted on to do their jobs properly.

"I meant that it's unfortunate you came right now," Hiroshi said. "I mean, I don't have any work- so it's great I have a friend with me to talk to, but the curfew means you can't go back either."

Suzuki would be missing work- wait no, he too would have a holiday. The two of them lived in an area controlled by the same megacorp- the two of them had exchanged addresses earlier as several guild members had once planned a meeting together in real life several years ago, when the guild had been at its peak.

However, they had never acted on their plans to meet in person.

"Curfew?" Suzuki asked.

"Yeah, I can't access the Internet," Hiroshi explained.

"I was using it minutes before," Suzuki replied.

"Yeah, it just happened, can you believe that?" Hiroshi asked.

Now that he thought about it, there was another problem, namely that Hiroshi didn't have enough food stocked up for the two of them if the quarantine lasted for more than a few days. Granted, if that happened, then several people would be in trouble, but it was probably too much to ask for the megacorp to provide the citizens with food and water.

Oh well, he would get to that problem when he would get to it.

Honestly, Hiroshi had no idea what would happen if this went on long enough. Such a thing had never happened before in his lifetime.

"So why don't you come in?" Hiroshi said now that he had regained control of his train of thoughts.

Suzuki looked around and hunched over to come in. His skeletal frame barely fit through the door even with him hunched up. Hiroshi looked behind Suzuki to see just in case someone else was behind him.

He wouldn't put it past Ulbert to make a costume like that- as a matter of fact it would have probably been either Ulbert or Touch Me who would have been the happiest to have a realistic cosplay like the one which Suzuki had.

Drat, what were Ulbert and Touch called in real life again? Everyone in the guild knew and remembered Momonga's real name, but as for the others... their names had faded from Hiroshi's memories.

But there was no one else besides Suzuki there.

Hiroshi had to admit that Suzuki was quite dedicated to the cosplay though as he hadn't removed the costume even though it was clearly quite cumbersome to take a seat.

Come to think of it, Hiroshi wondered, there didn't seem to be any room in the costume for someone to fit inside. And the movements were far too fluid.

Could this be some sort of remote controlled robot? No, that would be far out of the reach of a salaryman such as Suzuki to afford- unless Suzuki had won the lottery or something like that. That or he had been lying about his job.

"It's super realistic though," Hiroshi said to himself and without much though, moved over to touch the skeletal mask that Suzuki had on.

Those eyes- the way that the flames danced inside them was incredible. It was truly spooky- if Hiroshi hadn't known that this was a costume he would have been genuinely scared.

As he touched the mask he felt that it was as hard as bone.

And right then a voice called out to him: "Take your stinking hands off him, your damn dirty human!"

Hiroshi stumbled back as a whip cracked and suddenly, the table he had kept in front of the chair Suzuki was sitting in split in two.

Standing behind Suzuki was a small girl (or was it a boy?) who was holding the whip and looked angrily at him. She, or he, had mismatched eyes and pointed ears.

The ears, Hiroshi could explain away. Cosmetic surgery was relatively cheap and some people enjoyed altering their ears so they would look like elves, while some girls altered their ears to become cat ears. Such girls were usually actually high class escorts and did such for their client's wishes.

What he couldn't explain away was the fact that he had seen this elf somewhere before- and how it was that she had gotten into his apartment in the first place.

And then it hit him.

"You're one of the elves that Bukubukuchagama made!" He did not remember her real name either.

The moment he said this, the girl paused and looked at him in confusion. "How do you know my creator's name?"

"Aura!" Suzuki shouted. "Why did you do that?"

"But Momonga-sama, this lowly life form tried to touch you! I had to intervene," Aura responded.

"What's going on?" Hiroshi asked. His heart had begun pounding.

"I'm sorry about this, Hiroshi-san," Suzuki said. "I should have started with this- but basically Yggdrasil has become real."

"Huh?" Hiroshi asked.

"This is no costume," Suzuki said. "This is my new body. I stayed logged in while the servers shut down, and the moment after, I found myself trapped in this body. And not just that- but our whole guild came to life. Even the NPCs that we made, including Aura."

Hiroshi laughed. He laughed at the absurd possibility that whatever Suzuki was saying might be true.

Actually, Hiroshi desperately hoped that what Suzuki had said was true. It would be a dream come true.

But, the other possibility was that someone was playing a very elaborate prank on him.

"Alright then, prove it," Hiroshi uttered confidently.

"You have a lot of nerve-" the girl began to say before a skeletal hand waved at her.

"It is fine," Suzuki said and left the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The staff hovered in the air like it would in game.

"That doesn't prove much," Hiroshi retorted. "A hovercraft could do that, or something like that."

Suzuki then unleashed a wave of dark energy.

Hiroshi didn't see anything, but a wave of coldness washed over him. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. Okay, he was clueless as to how that happened, and why he was feeling so scared.

"But there is a final test," Suzuki said and approached Hiroshi and grabbed his arm. The skeletal hand felt real and surprisingly strong, even though there was no muscle connecting the bones. Hiroshi had expected to see thin wires if he looked at the costume closely, but there was nothing like that. "Come, Aura, let's go home."

And then they teleported.

Hiroshi blinked and found himself in a place which was familiar and yet so alien at the same time.

He recognized the throne room, of course, but to see it rendered in real life was surreal. Suzuki was standing beside him along with the elf.

The Throne of Kings was right behind him, and he saw the NPCs of the throne room.

Either he was dreaming, or this was real.

And if he was dreaming, well then it was a cruel dream given that he would have to wake up.

An NPC, he thought she was named Albaedo or something like that, was glaring at him. She looked beautiful, but the glare did not fit her countenance. "Why have you brought this human here, Momonga-sama?"

Did the NPC talk? Now that he thought about it, the elf girl had talked as well. That was something that could not happen in-game.

The moment he realized this, his eyes turned towards the Pleiades because there was one face that should be there which he wanted to confirm.

He locked eyes with a maid who had bright blonde hair and blue eyes.

The maid's eyes widened. "Herohero-sama?"

Hiroshi smiled. "Yes, that's who I am!" He then turned towards Suzuki. Well, this was definitely real.

"What are you saying?" another maid snapped at Solution. He thought this maid was named Yuri or Yuki... he didn't remember all that well. "How could a human be a supreme being?"

Hiroshi stated laughing hysterically and then fell to his knees.

Solution Epsilon, on the other hand, felt a raging headache.

Slimes like her normally could not feel pain, but this was psychological and not physical pain.

Namely, she knew that this human was her creator. That was an undeniable fact she knew deep inside herself.

On the other hand, how could her creator be a human? This too was an almost undeniable fact, and the contradictions between the two were what gave rise to the headache.

But, as she saw the human fall to the floor, she forgot everything else and rushed to her creator's side.

Her skills began to activate as she surveyed this human. He was suffering from hypertension, decreased bone density, and seemed to also have a small tumor in the right lung.

How could something like this happen to her creator? She wanted answers, but Solution had never been someone who thought a lot. She mostly followed orders.

"Solution is not mistaken," Momonga-sama said. "That human, is, as a matter of fact, the Supreme Being known as Herohero."

There were gasps of disbelief around Solution, but she had already known that fact deep in her heart. Her creator had now collapsed and was lying down on the floor.

She cast the most powerful healing spells she knew in quick succession at her creator. Some of them would heal health, while others would cure fatigue, and yet others would cure the effects of a chronic poison that seemed to have affected him and which had seeped into and affected nearly every single organ system.

"What was that?" Hiroshi muttered. He got up to one knee, somehow his body felt so... amazing all of a sudden. Not only that, but the air in this place was so... clean. The air at his home and office was obviously filtered, but it lacked something that the air in this place possessed.

He wobbled as he tried to get up. "Sorry, but could someone lend me a hand?" he asked.

Solution instinctively moved to help him get up, but she was stopped as Momonga-sama had reached him first and brought him to stand with a single motion of his skeletal hand.

"Are you alright, Herohero?" Momonga asked.

"Yeah," Hiroshi answered. "I think so."

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**

**First of all, I took up Outis's suggestion of what to name Herohero. Maybe as we go along, I'll just call them by their game names only, either that or I'll go through my repertoire of manga that I've read and try to find names from there**

**That said, I did not intend for this to be this long at first- the parts with Albedo meeting Pandora's Actor and Ainz's corpse were things I recently added. I normally would not update a fanfic like this just 2 days after the last part, but the thing is I had a holiday today and I also sort of left the first chapter unfinished so to speak. **

**And yeah, the bit with the corpse was kind of dark- though if you've read Overlord I guess you're used to dark humor by now.**

**Also, from now on, the chapters are going to way shorter to accommodate for my sanity, and updates will be weekly/biweekly at most in frequency. **

**That said, I hoped you enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed reading your reviews.**

**I think I answered most of your questions that you might've had in this very chapter itself, and as for the rest, I think we'll find out later! **

**I think I'll take this story slowly- there are whole lot of characters to go into, and while we all want to see Momonga conquer the world, the best part about Overlord is how we get there, at least I think so. **

**So see you guys later then!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, guys, thanks for the amazing amount of support again for the last chapter. OldWorldVulture, a fanfic author I was a fan of actually used that line and put the explanation in parenthesis like I did, but I can see how it would be distracting so I'll fix that. **

**Also, although I hadn't seen before, I did go and see the other 'Nazarick In Real World' story that you mentioned. It doesn't look like it's been update for several years, so I'm guessing it won't be finished- I read a few chapters. And yes, my story is going to be quite different compared to that.**

* * *

"You know what," Hiroshi said, 'this is absolutely delicious."

Hiroshi and Suzuki were in the conference room of the 41 Supreme Beings. The Guardians had not been allowed and there was no one save the two of them present, with the temporary exception of Solution.

The reason for that was because Hiroshi had mentioned he was feeling hungry, and the moment that Solution had heard this she had ran off to find the Homunculi maids and whipped something up for Hiroshi.

Unfortunately... some of the initial things she had brought around included such things as crushed cockroaches (a delicacy that Entoma swore was a real treat) which Hiroshi did not want to eat for obvious reasons, and it was after he had specified that he would like something like juice to drink, some fruits maybe, and a sandwich that they complied with that he actually started eating.

"This stuff is great," Hiroshi added. Fresh fruits and vegetables were things he had only rarely tasted in real life, and he didn't think that the ones outside could even compare to those within Nazarick. Same went for the juice. There had been no taste function in Yggdrasil, so this was all new to him. "Tell whoever made this that they did a wonderful job!"

"Thank you so much, Herohero-sama!" Solution ecstatically exclaimed. Her smile widened, and is it became wider, the one on Hiroshi's face started to disappear. That smile was way too large for a human to possibly make and it made her face look mutated and warped. "I do not deserve such words of encouragement, however!"

Hiroshi tried his best to put on his smile again regardless of this event.

By this point, Soultion Epsilon's face was so contorted she barely resembled a human. But then again, to her, this was probably how she should look like.

"No, no, you've done well. And as for the Homunculi who made this meal, please convey my thanks to them too."

"Of course! They shall be rolling on the floors in delight to know that their food was enjoyed by one such as you, their creator!" Solution exclaimed. "Do you need anything else, Herohero-sama, or you, Momonga-sama?"

Hiroshi looked at the amount of food on the conference table- it was enough to feed him for three days. "No, no, you've done enough."

"And I do not require food," Momonga added. "Thank you Solution, but there is a matter that the two of us must discuss in private."

"Understood, Momonga-sama," Solution said and bowed deeply and left.

Once she was gone and the doors were closed, Momonga sighed.

"Satoru-san, this food is amazing. Are you sure you don't want any?" Hiroshi asked.

"No, Hitora-san. I can't eat in this form," Momonga said.

"Oh right," Hiroshi said and then felt guilty for enjoying his breakfast in front of someone who couldn't eat.

"Well, this does give me a sense of deja vu," Momong said.

They were sitting at their usual seats, in other words, in the same way that had sat only a few hours ago in-game.

"Yeah," Hiroshi said. "But I didn't get cool powers like you did!"

Momonga would've raised an eyebrow if he had one. "Ah... to be fair I do not know whether this body is a blessing or a curse. I can't eat or drink at all."

"Oh," Hiroshi said and realized that if he had turned into his slime form, he too would've been considerably pissed despite the advantages it would've had.

Probably, no one in the guild would've liked to turn into their avatar forms- with the exception of perhaps Ulbert who would've been ecstatic at it. Or maybe not, even his Chuunibyou mind had some limitations.

"And to cap it all off," Momonga said. "I don't even have _that_ anymore!"

Hiroshi winced as he knew what the 'that' was that Momonga wanted to say. A body of bones would be missing one such 'bone' so to say.

He was about to make a joke that Suzuki had probably not made much use of it anyway, but he reconsidered given that it would probably be a rather mean thing to say given this was not a video game and was affecting things in real life.

"So this happened right at midnight?" Hiroshi asked.

"Yes," Momonga replied. "The guild came to life, and suddenly I was here. And to top it all off- my actual human body is dead."

"That's rather creepy," Hiroshi remarked.

"It was," Momonga said though he strangely enough no longer felt bothered by it as much as he felt he should have.

"So what now?" Hiroshi asked as he reached for a strawberry.

"That's the thing," Momonga said. "I'm not sure what to do next. I don't even know where we are in the real world."

"Hmm..." Hiroshi muttered. Once he had finished his strawberry, he said, "I guess the next thing is to ask the game devs what happened?"

"How do we get to them though?" Momonga asked.

"You can't use the GM Call feature?" Hiroshi asked.

"No," Momonga said.

"So can you like see an interface in your head like in Yggdrasil?" Hiroshi wondered.

"No, I can't," Momonga said. "But I just somehow know how much mana I have and what spells I have and what they do."

"Oh," Hiroshi said. "So maybe we should just wait around here for now? Things should clear up by themselves eventually."

"Uh, we may have some problems on doing that," Momonga said. "Namely that everything we wrote about the NPCs apparently came true."

"Oh," Hiroshi said. He then remembered what he had written as Solution's description. He clutched his head. "Oh no!"

Why had their guild chosen to roleplay as villains? Oh right, it was because it had seemed fun at the time and they didn't know that this was going to happen. Otherwise they might've been more choosey with what they made.

For example, they might've went ahead and made every single NPC an adorable waifu- come to think of it that was what the Pleiades were but they kind of lacked the mindset that an ideal waifu would have.

As such, probably only Touch Me had the right idea with making an NPC, and maybe perhaps Warrior Takemikazuchi.

"And not just that," Momonga said. "Thing is everything Ulbert wrote also came true."

Hiroshi remembered only about half of what Ulbert had designed into the game and that was still more than enough to make him clutch his head in despair again.

Momonga also clutched his head.

"Oh no!" they both said in unison.

Most of the NPCs, if they were as strong as they were in Yggdrasil, were walking nuclear weapons who could indefinitely replenish their arsenals. If they turned against them, both of them were sure that even with humanity's advanced technology they would be wiped extinct rather quickly.

"So what do we do now?" Hiroshi asked.

"I was thinking of gathering everyone else together," Momonga said. "Maybe, together, we could get the NPCs to calm down."

"Aren't they completely loyal?" Hiroshi asked.

"I don't know," Momonga said. "They should be- but they're walking around like real people. It's possible they could turn on us... and if they found out we were all really human...'

Hiroshi gulped. "But they seemed rather nice to me."

"At least Solution was," Momonga said. "Aura tried to whip you."

"Oh yeah," Hiroshi said. "I wonder what they must all be doing and thinking right now..."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Guardians were also having an (unofficial) meeting amongst themselves.

"So. The. Supreme. Ones. May. Be. Returning. This. Is. Wonderful. News." Coccytus said.

"Indeed," Demiurge said. "If all of the Supreme Beings were to come together, no one would be happier than I!" His face then darkened. "But we must be careful not to displease them."

"Indeed, we won't," Shalltear said. "And I can't wait to see Perroronccino-sama in the flesh!" She fidgeted and blushed, clutching her skirt. "I hope he'll hug me and call me 'Daddy's little girl!' And maybe, if I've displeased him in some way, he'll give me a spanking!"

Albedo normally would've made fun of the fact that Shalltear seemed to have a massive Electra complex but she was too worried at this point to do so. "But why is Herohero-sama a human?"

"I thought it might be a trick," Aura mused. She looked quite depressed for some reason. "But if Momonga-sama says its true, it means that it is true!"

"Hmm..." Demiurge said. "Perhaps it is the result of an enemy spell? Herohero-sama also looked sick."

Sebas's face darkened. "If that is true, we must make it our mission to slaughter whoever dared do something like that to a Supreme Being."

Albedo was kind of relieved that Herohero-sama was a weak human though- it meant that it would be unlikely that he could overpower Momonga-sama.

But that begged the question as to what the other human body Momonga-sama had talked about was for. Had Herohero-sama's plan been to turn into a human? Did all the Supreme Beings intend to turn into humans? Or were they turning into humans for some purpose, such as a grand ritual?

"Oi, Shorty, what's wrong?" Shalltear asked.

Aura clutched her head. "While I was guarding Momonga-sama, I turned my whip against Herohero-sama because I thought he was just a human! I didn't know who it was, but I still attacked a Supreme Being!"

"Aura!" Demiurge screeched harshly before he calmed down. "Well, it can't be helped. You'll just have to beg them for forgiveness."

All of the other Guardians also looked at Aura with reproachful eyes, but thankfully even Shalltear had enough tact not to say anything. Aura was already close to tears and Mare was trying to cheer her up, but he wasn't very good at it and he just sort of awkwardly patted her on the head.

"Yeah, I'll wait outside of the meeting room for them!" Aura said.

Albedo wondered what they were talking about right now. Momonga-sama had forbidden any of them from listening in by any means, but she had a raging desire to try and do so despite her orders. However, no matter how uncomfortable it made her, she decided to avoid doing something like that for now.

"That brings me to my next point," Demiurge said. "Given that Herohero-sama is a human, we can only assume that the dead human body we saw earlier was also that of a Supreme Being given how Momonga-sama kept it with such reverence."

There were sounds of shock and disbelief, but as the others thought about it they couldn't deny that there was sense to Demiurge's words.

Albedo chose not to mention the fact that Pandora's Actor had thought that the body belonged to Momonga-sama, since that very well made no sense given that Momonga-sama was in his magnificent skeletal form currently. As it was, Pandora's Actor was currently still in the treasury.

"S-so why are the Supreme Beings humans then?" Mare asked Demiurge.

He probably hoped that as the smartest of all the NPCs within Nazarick could come with an answer that the rest of them couldn't.

"It is shameful to say, but for now my information is not sufficient for me to come to a conclusion," Demiurge said. "But, given the available facts, one can only conclude that some of the Supreme Beings have transformed into lesser life forms, most likely by an outside force!"

"An. Outside. Force?" Coccytus asked.

"Indeed," Demiurge said. "They would not choose human forms willingly, so that is the only other conclusion we can logically reach. Given these circumstances, it is important that we declare a moratorium on hunting and harming humans."

"Huh? No more hunting humans?" Shalltear asked, as if this was an unbelievable restriction.

"We might end up harming more Supreme Beings like that, as Aura did," Albedo said. "We must not repeat her mistake."

"Uh... right," Aura said with her head hanging low.

"I don't get one thing though, Shorty," Shalltear said and clapped Aura on the shoulder. "How come you couldn't tell Herohero-sama was a Supreme Being?"

Oh right, Albedo realized. Shalltear hadn't been in the throne room when Herohero-sama had come back.

"He didn't have the aura of a Supreme Being like Momonga-sama did," Aura muttered.

The Floor Guardians, and any NPC of Nazarick for that matter could instantly recognize the Supreme Beings regardless of the form they chose. As such, someone like Pandora's Actor could never pretend to be Momonga-sama or any other Supreme Being. However, Herohero-sama in his human form seemed to lack this.

"Umu, are we even sure that he is a Supreme Being then?" Shalltear asked.

"If Momonga-sama and Solution both confirmed his identity, well, there can be no doubt then," Demiurge said. He frowned. "I do believe that that's how our conversation started out."

Sebas had a feeling Demiurge was quickly going to attack Shalltear on her lack of intellect, so he interjected, "Rather than thinking of theories here, would it not be better to simply approach Momonga-sama and request an explanation?"

There were some murmurs of approval.

However, Demiurge couldn't agree with Sebas's idea.

He turned towards Sebas. There was something about the butler's eyes that instantly irritated Demiurge for some reason. "I am afraid that such a suggestion is rather foolish."

There was a chorus of 'Ehs?' from the others.

"Is this simply a matter of your pride, Demiurge?" Sebas asked. "It certainly is no problem to admit that you cannot solve a problem and ask for help."

"That is not it," Demiurge growled. "I know that no matter how much I think, I can never even begin to equal the intellect of one such as Momonga-sama. The problem is that it is unacceptable that we cannot even grasp a fundamental idea of what the Supreme Being's plan is!"

Demiurge and Sebas glared at each other, though Sebas had far less intensity and emotion.

The butler was honestly surprised by how Demiurge was reacting. The other faces around them seemed to mirror Sebas's confusion.

Demiurge backed up a pace. It was unsightly for one to reveal their true emotions.

The meat of the matter was the fact that Demiurge had never been happier than when the guild had been at its peak and the Supreme Beings ruled over them.

When they had begun to peter out and their numbers dwindled, although Demiurge had never been able to protest at the time, it had broken him deeply.

He was certain that the reason that they had all left was because they found his performance- and that of the other NPCs to be inadequate.

As such, to go ahead and such blatantly profess that they had no idea what the Supreme Beings wanted or had in mind would be admitting how incompetent they all were.

What if the Supreme Beings were angered by a display such as that? What if they abandoned the NPCs because of something stupid the others said? Momonga-sama had been kind enough to remain behind even years after the others had left, but if they messed up, even he might abandon the tomb.

_I will not let you down this time, Ulbert-sama. If you are out there in this world somewhere, I will make you proud of me, your creation._

* * *

Meanwhile, in a parallel world, Platinum Dragon Lord had been sleeping calmly when he noticed a sudden change in the environment.

_Is that a... sea breeze?_

There was something definitely wrong here. For one, he was supposed to be in a flying city overlooking a desert, and two, the sea breeze that reached him smelled extremely tainted. Almost as if it was poisoned.

On the lookout for assassins; he raised his head and looked around.

His scales itched as they had not in a thousand years.

There was something very wrong- he could feel it in his heart.

With great reluctance, he left his seat upon the unbelievably massive horde of gold and treasure which he had gathered, and for the first time in a long while, thought about wandering outside. But, his natural reluctance to be parted with treasure coupled with the realization that this could be a trap stopped him.

Instead, he activated the armor by his side and used it to venture out.

Could those who had been summoned by the Dragon Emperor, his father, those from Yggdrasil who polluted this world came to attack him? If so, he would most likely have no recourse but to flee if they were great in numbers.

The suit of armor flew out and once it reached outside, Platinum Dragon Lord saw that the ocean of sand beneath him had been replaced by an ocean of water. The great city that had once lay beneath him was gone, and the sky itself was covered by a thick layer of smoke that obscured the stars and even the light of the moon.

There were no signs of any attackers, but even from here, he could tell that the air and water was very filthy. There also seemed to be a strange sort of poison permeating the world itself.

Platinum Dragon Lord had been to many locations over his long lifespan but none of them even remotely resembled the scenery before him. His first guess was that this was some sort of weather or terrain altering magic, but even as he looked far into the distance he saw that the environment was unchanged. This was no magic that he knew of- if it was magic it might be of the kind that only those creatures from Yggdrasil could use.

Either that, or he had been teleported somewhere very far from his home.

Thousands of miles away from his residence, a group of people had also found themselves on a dark road. The road had been well maintained at one point, but after World War 3 the land had been abandoned and the road had fallen into disrepair. However, the group of people still wouldn't have recognized what the road was made of even when it had been intact.

One of them was a woman wearing a long white dress made to accentuate the wearer's curves. It was also quite revealing- in her home country of the Slane Theocracy any woman who wore such an outfit would have been openly ridiculed as a harlot- though in this world a woman wearing such an outfit would not draw more than a single glance from passerby.

However, in her case, people may have looked far more than twice. The woman was clearly very old- perhaps pushing eighty- and a garment such as this one did not suit her in the slightest. Nonetheless she wore the national treasure- Downfall of Castle and Country without complaint. It was a great honor to do so.

"What just happened?" one of her comrades asked.

"We appear to have triggered some sort of teleportation trap," another one answered.

The Black Scripture had been on a field mission when a huge wall of light had suddenly washed over them.

"I count all of us here," their Captain muttered. He was an androgynous seeming man in his late teens, but the others would obey his authority without question. "I do not see any enemies around us however."

As the air moved into and out of his lungs he began coughing. It was filthy and some of his comrades began casting divine spells to ward off poison.

The sky itself was blighted in a thick layer of smoke, and there was no hope of relying on the constellations to lead them home as the stars were invisible. The moon as well could not be seen.

"I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," the Captain remarked.

This was a well known phrase within the Slane Theocracy as the gods had left it as a line in one of their books, though nobody could tell what 'Kansas' was or why it was important- with some speculating it was the original home of the Six Gods.

"Be on your guards," the Captain said.

"I can see a shoreline," someone pointed out.

The Slane Theocracy was a completely landlocked country, so that would definitely mean they were quite a ways from home.

Even further away from them, a band of soldiers had appeared when the light enveloped the world.

Chief amongst them was one covered in red adamantite plate armor and holding a bright green sword in hand. The sword, Razor Edge, was one which had been forged with Wild Magic and was one of the great treasures of his country.

"What is this?" Gazef Stronoff wondered. He had been ordered to relinquish this set of national treasures, which he had to do only because of that snake Marquis Raevan, but why were they here right now?

Had they been teleported elsewhere? Was this a trap? His first concern was his panoply of equipment. He could not allow such powerful national treasures to fall into enemy hands.

Immediately though, he began coughing violently. Several of his Warrior Troop began coughing as well. The air stank, but Gazef could not find the source of anyone who had done such a thing.

Before they could react though, a strange looking creature began moving towards them. They all tensed up before a voice hit them.

"Identify yourselves!"

Trying to do his best not to inhale too much of the foul air, Gazef spoke up. "We are the Warrior Troop under the command of His Majesty of the Re-Estize Kingdom."

The strange creature suddenly opened up and out of the top came a humanoid figure. The 'creature' was clearly some form of carriage and Gazef could now see something resembling wheels at its base.

The creature was most probably a human though it was dressed in what appeared to be some strange looking armor.

"You all are currently trespassing on the lands belonging to the Beijing Prefecture of the People's Republic of China!" the strange human said. "What is your business here? Where are your papers?"

Gazef had not heard of such a country.

How far had they been transported, and what did these people want with him? Were they the ones who had transported him and his warrior band to this place? Or did they not know about it?

That said, this man had asked for papers, and Gazef took out the scroll from the Kingdom detailing his orders to return the four treasures of the Kingdom back for safekeeping given that the nobles had declared that he could no longer wield them.

He handed the scroll to the man who scanned through it.

"What the hell kind of language is this!?"

* * *

Moments before the wall of light had enveloped the Earth, a man who took the alias of Ulbert Alain Odle in Yggdrasil was arguing with another person.

The two of them could be said to be the two evils in this world.

Hachiman Hikigaya was his actual name.

The other person opposing him was not a Yggdrasil player, as such he was actually a reporter. Or a propagandist to put into more accurate terms.

As their argument reached its peak though, a wave of light washed over them.

It did nothing to them, and Hachiman blinked as he realized he was unharmed. The light had done nothing to him.

But he blinked again as he realized there was something on the floor in front of him.

He could not believe his eyes.

It was an item that he had long since sought after back in Yggdrasil- the world item which could summon numberless demons to the world!

Of course, he did know that this was real life.

So was this some sort of prop a cosplayer used? If so, it matched its description perfectly.

Ignoring the other man whom he was arguing with just a moment before, he picked up the item and immediately knew what it was called and what it did.

The item was called Emblem of the Baphomet Lord.

Hachiman laughed. This was it- it was truly a world item!

* * *

A person diametrically opposed to Ulbert Alain Odle in ideology within the guild would be Touch Me, whose name in real life was Hayato Hayama.

Currently though he was almost as pissed off as Hachiman had been earlier.

There were several reasons for such.

For one, it was five in the morning and yet every single officer all over Japan had been woken up to enforce the new curfew.

The police were not very used to working hard in the year 2138. Their positions were those of privilege, and no one really cared what happened to ninety percent of citizens anyway. Given that fact, having to get up at five in the morning to do actual work was exasperating to almost everyone.

On top of that was the nature of said work.

The entire city had been put under quarantine, and they were expected to enforce it. They had been forced to wear very awkward hazmat suits as they were told that the virus in question was very contagious and so they were wandering around in very uncomfortable gear.

There were various theories of course regarding what this virus was. Many people believed it to be a bioweapon by some neighboring country. Others believed that the virus itself was a lie and this was done just as a cover up. There was talk of a massive wall of light that had hit the world around midnight inexplicably and of strange creatures resembling UFOs flying around.

Of course, Hayato thought the former explanation was far more likely.

There were talks that this might even lead to World War 4 happening. Some of the officers had remarked that if World War 4 started, it should be called '2 World 2 War' for some reason.

Hayato thought there was some sort of reference there which he was missing out on. In completely unrelated news, _The Fast & The Furious: 69 _was going to be released in American theaters, though Hayato really did not care for American cinema.

It was probably a good thing that Internet access had been revoked- and not just because it would have no doubt been flooded with World War 4 memes. The forums would have been buzzing about the curfew, but it surprised Hayato that even officers such as himself could not access the web.

It was also very good that news on what they were doing was not spreading anywhere.

Already, they had been ordered to shoot civilians. A good number of them had simply been outside at the wrong time and were now stuck in awkward places such as subway stations and the like where there was no food and so they had tried to leave to try and at least be stuck somewhere else, but neither were they given any supplies nor any mercy and those who left had been gunned down mercilessly.

The utter horror of what they were doing numbed Hayato's heart. He had long come to the realization that the world of justice he wanted to serve was one that could only exist in fantasy and had no place in the real world, but this was outright murder. Ignoring those in trouble was one thing, but actively killing your own citizens was another. This was something that had never happened before.

He heard gunfire yet again off in the distance during his patrol.

A number of people had also been arrested- and he assumed they had been taken in for allegedly being bioterrorists, if this really was a biological weapon.

But therein lay another problem. They had been carried away in heavily armored trucks normally only used for transporting explosives. Many of the people being arrested seemed like normal civilians. Why were they warranting such strong security?

He was lost in his thoughts and wasn't paying much attention as to where he was going.

He rounded a corner and turned into an alleyway and did a double-take.

There was a girl right there. She couldn't have been more than seven, and was dressed in strange clothing. It was very fancy, but it looked very out of place. She didn't even have a mask on or anything that would protect her from the ever-present smog.

The girl whimpered.

Hayato raised his gun. Technically he was supposed to shoot all loiterers who did not have valid permits to go outside now, regardless of circumstance. An hour had passed since curfew had been declared, and those were the rules.

But this was still a girl. Almost the same age as his daughter.

A daughter that he was supposed to have seen today after quite a long time- if not for the fact that there was this stupid quarantine!

And that was the last and most important reason that he was so pissed off today. His wife had suspected him of having an affair, and well, she had been slightly correct. Hayato had been seeing another woman, but it had simply been a couple of private meetings. He had no idea how word on that had leaked out, but after that, his wife had taken their daughter away and filed for divorce.

The past few years had been agonizing over court dates and lawyer fees as he tried to settle the matter. Eventually, the courts had ruled that Hayato could see his daughter again- and yet on this day this bloody quarantine had started!

"Why are you here? Where are your parents?" he asked.

"I-I don't know!" she said. She appeared to be on the verge of tears. "I was outside, and I got separated from my guards..."

Guards? Was she the daughter of a VIP? If so, why wasn't she wearing anything to protect her from the atmosphere? Her lungs would fail within two months if she wandered outside like this, and it would be far worse for her because finding a pediatric lung transplant would be much more difficult than finding one for an adult.

Hayato shuddered- there were lots of horror stories regarding trafficking of human organs, but he had not been assigned a unit which looked into that thankfully.

Hayato certainly wasn't going to shoot her- the only alternative was to arrest her, but he had a feeling that that might not fly with the others. He grit his teeth and looked around- there was no one else around.

"Alright then, everything's going to be alright," Hayato said and turned to call in for a car.

Once Hayato was out of earshot, the little girl frowned and began cursing like a sailor under her breath. How had she gotten into this situation?

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**

**N16R0MAN73, it was a nice idea having the voice actor's name for the Supreme Beings's real names, but for Touch Me and Ulbert I named them after characters from My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (anyone who's seen it/read the novels I think would agree that the names fit their personalities very nicely). Also, Bukubukuchagama and Peroroncino were siblings and so should have the same last name ideally (something you overlooked I think by mistake, but then again, maybe she got married and changed her name?)**

**Now, first of all, I should point out that at the time this story is being written it's based off certain theories going around based on what Maruyama has written up till now. It's possible that with time this theory turns out wrong, and if so I just want it known that this wasn't supposed to be on any AU set of rules. I'm writing based on what's known about each character up till now and trying to keep them true to themselves.**

**As such I don't remember where it was that I read that Touch Me had a mistress and his wife was angry about it- it doesn't say so in the light novel so maybe it was a bonus volume? I do think I read it somewhere and I incorporated it into this story in my own way, but even if it wasn't canon- oh well, it is now for this fanfic anyway. **

**Also, the 'person' whom Ulbert was talking to in real life was never revealed, and I had it be someone who did not play Yggdrasil. If it's later revealed to be someone else, such as Touch Me, well, it wasn't when I wrote this.**

**As for the New World characters coming to Earth, not all of them are coming to Earth, as you could tell I did try to highlight certain things about them which gives a clue as to why they were brought to Earth. But I guess that's a lovely reverse-isekai for you. **

**I don't think there's anything else to say- oh yeah, in this dystopian future of 2138, _The Fast & The Furious _is still one of the most profitable franchises of all time. Sorry, I couldn't help but sneak in that joke.**

**That's all for now, and if you have questions/comments, feel free to leave a review! Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: It has occurred to me (and has been pointed out as well) that introducing the characters of the New World into the real world was done kind of confusingly.**

**For one, when I said 'in a parallel world' in the first sentence while introducing Platinum Dragon Lord I meant that at the time, Platinum Dragon Lord was in another dimension and then almost immediately after came to the real world. But I understand the confusion.**

**There's a pattern to who from the New World ended up coming to the real world, and I think I emphasized specific parts in the last chapter which I think will tell you what that was.**

**Alex15951, I'm not sure that Sebas is based off of Touch Me's appearance. I found that out on the Overlord wiki too- but it kind of doesn't make sense given that I thought Touch Me was at most 40 or 50 (he does seem to have a family recently) and Sebas looks far older. But I digress, that does appear to be canon somehow. As such, I'll try to work it in.**

**SonicFire12, I don't think all summons by items are permanent. I think it was true for the Horn of the Goblin General, which was why it was a Divine Class item, but with other items mentioned in the series which summon monsters they don't mention that.**

**I know a lot of you want for Suzuki/Momonga to conquer the world, and trust me, we'll all probably get there eventually but in this universe that can't happen all that quickly as it did in the original canon.**

**Also, I will try to not make any more anime names. I just thought that for Touch Me and Ulbert, those characters would really mirror how they saw reality.**

**And for everyone else who reviewed, thank you! It means a lot!**

* * *

Hayato was reasonably sure he hadn't been spotted.

He had taken the girl into a patrol car and hid her in the backseat. This particular one was out of order for some reason and had been scheduled to be taken in for repairs, and so hopefully no one would check up on it for a while.

"Alright, just hide in here and try not to move," he said. "I'll come for you later."

The girl just nodded nervously.

Hayato had no idea what he was going to do next- and was very well aware that with each step he took he was digging his grave even deeper. He had no idea if a chance would appear to take this girl somewhere else, hopefully back to her parents, and if he was caught he would likely be at the very least imprisoned if not executed.

But then again, both of those fates would probably be in the girl's future if she was found, so this was a risk that he was currently willing to take.

Just then his phone rang with an alert. It was from one of his juniors who had been reviewing security footage.

The image was rather self-explanatory: there was a large gray winged, well, _thing _was the best way that Hayato could describe it floating above a street corner.

Hayato frowned. He was sure he had seen something like this before- and it occurred to him that there was a subspecies of demon within Yggdrasil which resembled the thing's appearance.

The thoughts of Yggdrasil brought bittersweet memories to his mind. True, he had really enjoyed his time in the game and his climb all the way to the top ranks of players, but when the court battles had started all free time he had was stripped from him. Between the game and his daughter, it was a no-brainer which would come first.

As a matter of fact, he hadn't even gotten the news that the game was shut down.

As such, he came to the conclusion that this was some sort of prank by some player wearing a costume. He shook his head- pranksters in such a dire time? It might just be some other wacko trying to get either a laugh or clicks on the Internet fro some reason.

He messaged back his junior explaining that it was probably someone horsing around and nothing to be worried about.

Back in the police car though, Draudillon Oriculus, Queen of the Dragon Kingdom, was worrying quite a lot.

For one, she had no idea where she was. She had gone for a walk outside in the palace gardens, and as she was tired of her guards constant supervision she had snuck out of a hole only she and her advisor knew existed for some fresh air.

Five minutes into her walk and she had found herself in a strange world with poisonous air that was even now burning her lungs.

Her first assumption was that she had been kidnapped, but given that no kidnapper had made his demands forward and she was allowed to wander this strange place without anyone stopping her led her to believe that this might have been unintentional.

She couldn't find anything that she recognized from her old place.

Everyone she had seen up till this time was a human. If this was a human nation it was strange she had never heard of it before.

She might have been a Dragon Lord- a great-granddaughter of the Brightness Dragon Lord but her entire country was occupied by humans. To the north was another human nation- the Baharuth Empire. Aside from the Slane Theocracy, the other human countries, the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Holy Roble Kingdom were of little importance to her country.

That wasn't the only thing that was wrong. This whole place made no sense. The air burned for some reason, and everyone walked around wearing weird masks. The sky was obscured by a thick cover of dark smoke. The fashion was practically unknown to her. There were carriages which moved without any horses.

Most frighteningly of all, she began to hear gunshots soon after she had arrived from everywhere. She had heard of Magic Guns but to hear so many shots so close was very frightening, especially because she was no stronger than the average human. She did not know any magic spells, and though she technically could use Wild Magic it would take the sacrifice of millions of souls for her to try _that _spell.

As such, she decided to go with the only defense she had: her age.

Though she looked like a little girl, she was in fact far older than that. However, looking like a little girl had many advantages. Other people underestimated her and so she came across practically no opposition from the nobles of her country, and acts of rebellion were nonexistent.

If she really was lost in a strange country, she thought it would be unlikely that they would attack a little girl.

And she had been right. A man in a strange suit of armor had told her to hide here.

But, this place was small and filthy. Many of the carriages in the New World were enchanted so they were bigger and more comfortable in the inside than they were on the outside, but this was just as small and cramped as it looked from the outside.

Granted, she was small enough that this wasn't a problem, but sitting in the cramped place and thinking about everything that was going on was beginning to make his stomach hurt.

She glanced out of the window of the car and then spotted something.

The carriage was held in a small building with other similar carriages, but there were a few desks, and on one, she saw a bottle.

She licked her lips.

It was generally only fools who looked for comfort at the bottom of a bottle, but given that alcohol had no permanent effect on her eternal body. It would just make her drunk as it would a normal human for a while.

It occurred to her that the bottle might not even be filled with alcohol- but its shape did imply that. And she considered that it might be poisoned, but then she checked her hands and saw that her Ring of the Unicorn she kept which detected and negated poisons was still on her right index finger.

It took her five minutes to figure out how to open the door, and after she did that she tentatively took a step out and then ran towards the bottle when she was sure that it was safe.

* * *

Hachiman's life had been a whirlwind ever since Bellriver had died.

Of course, Bellriver wasn't his actual name but Hachiman had only really known the man through Yggdrasil and had never met the man in person. Even after Bellriver had died, the only thing he had left for Hachiman was an email.

The contents of that email had nearly shattered Hachiman. Bellriver had stumbled upon something- something big clearly. Enough for the police to want to get him to end up 'missing' and as expected, Bellriver had died.

The message that Belleriver had left for Hachiman had been in a cryptic language a few of the member of Ainz Ooal Gown had developed themselves as a hobby- he had thought it would be oh so very cool to have a secret language for their guild, but the plan had not really gathered much attention from the other guild members.

It did turn out useful though as this meant that the megacorps could not read it even if they were monitoring the channels of information- which they probably had been.

Hachiman had gone to Bellriver's apartment and opened it with the hidden key he had been told about only to find that most of the things in the house had already been taken away. His hard drive had been wiped clean.

The one thing that the authorities hadn't gotten was small compartment Bellriver had made which contained a great deal of the info he had collected.

Like a flame consumed the candle over time, the secret that Hachiman had found had consumed him.

Year earlier, if you saw him, you would've thought he looked like your normal, healthy (relative for his socioeconomic class of course), and functioning person.

He now looked like a homeless man. His eyes were permanently sunken, his hair was unkempt (what was left of it that was- he was beginning to go bald), and his clothes smelt like they hadn't been washed for at least a week. His apartment likewise was very messy- and while it had not looked anything remotely fancy before it had at least been kept tidy.

The secret was always present somewhere like a splinter in his mind. He soon found himself unable to think about anything other than it. He had even given up his hobby of playing Yggdrasil- nothing mattered to him aside from keeping his job to pay his bills and finding a way to bring what Bellriver had found to light.

His coworkers had of course grown concerned- but Hachiman still did his work on time so there was little in the way that they could complain about. His girlfriend had broken up with him, but honestly he did not care about even that anymore.

Then again, perhaps that was why Bellriver had entrusted the information to him and not someone else in the guild such as Touch Me, Momonga, or Herohero. The late guild member must have known that Hachiman was the kind of person who wouldn't have laid low or ignored it once he had found something like that out.

He continued to plunge himself down the rabbit hole until he found himself at a dead end- which was why when Yggdrasil was closing rather than trying to celebrate with his friends one last time he had chosen to hunt down an old 'friend' of his whom he believed could've helped him.

Of course, this friend had turned out to be nearly useless when that wall of light struck the world.

And for the first time in several months all thoughts of the conspiracy had left Hachiman's mind.

Now, he was completely preoccupied with the World Item, Emblem of the Baphomet Lord. He had completely forgotten his argument with the 'friend' when he had laid his eyes on it and immediately had went back home. The gun he had managed to procure and planned to use was still concealed within his coat.

There was a quarantine announced shortly after his return to his apartment, but he did not care. He couldn't stop gazing at what he had found.

He somehow knew the moment he held it what it could do- but he still couldn't believe it.

Truth be told, Hachiman was sort of embarrassed when he now thought of how he had behaved as his online avatar, Ulbert Alain Oodle.

_I was such a stupid __edgelord, come to think of it- I was probably acting like an edgelord among edgelords._

While he liked to think that he had grown out of that phase, it had almost fully come back now.

The item in question could summon demons- not something that was too out of the ordinary in Yggdrasil. The demons that it could summon could only go up to level sixty-six- but there was no limit to how many one could summon. Of course, in Yggdrasil there was probably a limit given the computing power of the game, but perhaps in real life the limit really was infinite.

One could easily transform the entire world into a land covered with more demons than there were blades of grass in all of the grasslands or grains of sand in all the deserts.

Of course, it did have its drawbacks.

Namely, first of all, the summoned creatures couldn't inflict damage on any other user who held a World Item and so would be useless against them.

Second, it still took time to summon the demons. By the time one had actually managed to summon so many demons that it would seem like they had fallen from the heavens like drops of rain several weeks would have passed, during which the player would no doubt have been targeted by other players.

And lastly, Ahura Mazda was a World Item made specifically to counter this one- and if any player managed to get their hands on it that would mean that it was effectively useless.

Hachiman knew this the moment he had touched the World Item as if the information had been directly downloaded into his brain.

In another time, he would have wondered about how such a thing had made it into this world.

But for now, he was just contemplating whether he should summon ten thousand or a hundred thousand demons or even more.

Somewhere along the line though his rational side kicked in and he considered the fact that if he didn't really know how everything would go down trying to summon too many of them wasn't a good idea.

The item thankfully worked regardless of a player's abilities and had no level or racial requirements- something that would be strange in any other game besides Yggdrasil where the World Items were made so that even a level one n00b could take out a level hundred champion in the right circumstances.

As such he negotiated with himself and went ahead and told himself that he would only summon one demon.

Just one.

That couldn't possibly hurt, could it?

He held the item in his hand and concentrated as a curtain of flames emerged in his apartment which somehow didn't seem to scorch either the floor or the walls.

From the center of the flames appeared a demon.

It honestly reminded Hachiman of a very obese giant lizard with short black wings that did not look like they could lift it even a foot from the ground. It had an ugly, twisted face with crooked horns growing out of the top of its head. It wore no clothes or armor at all.

Hachiman was so entranced with this creature that he instinctively reached a hand out to touch it.

He just wanted to see if it was real, and the moment his hand made contact with the creature's skin he withdrew it instinctively.

"AGH!" he screamed, clutching his hand.

His hand was swollen and blistered. This was clearly the passive ability of this demon- a racial skill which inflicted burn damage upon contact.

The pain had snapped him out of his earlier sense of wonderment and he frantically shook his hand, willing for the creature to do something to help him.

The creature raised its hand and suddenly the pain which enveloped Hachiman's hand was gone.

It was perhaps a healing spell- either that or a special skill this demon had which healed. Some people might find it odd that demons knew healing magic, but the thing was that in Yggdrasil as a part of their lore many demons knew healing or resurrection skills. This was not so that they could help people, but rather so that they could continuously hurt and heal humans over and over for all of eternity.

It was also possible that just as many monsters which could inflict poison damage also had resistance to poison and could cure poisons, the same went for this demon and burns.

"Forgive me, O Summoner," the demon said. "I shall obey thy every command, but permit me to turn my passive **Skin of Thorns **skill off."

Hachiman examined his hand. it was just as it had been before.

The thing was that as far as he remembered, friendly fire was turned off in Yggdrasil, meaning that if this demon was his summon it shouldn't have been able to hurt him even with a passive skill. Unless the game had been updated since he quit, which was a definite possibility. However, the odds of there being a patch which added friendly fire as a mechanic were close to zero given that the feature had been off for basically the entire game and it would have been balance-breaking in quite a number of ways. For example, that Lolita vampire NPC which Peroroncino had made could siphon off health points from her own summons with her lance- now that was really broken. Though, given what the game developers had done up till that point, it wasn't completely out of the question.

When he had managed to somewhat calm down again and think straight he was able to note a strange sensation in his head which seemed to link him to this creature.

"What is your name?" Hachiman asked.

"My name is Danava, O Summoner," Danava answered.

Hachiman knew every single bit of lore about demons in Yggdrasil like he knew the back of his hand, and he remembered that demons could not call themselves by false names and neither could they tell falsehoods.

"Tell me something, do you know any other healing spells?" Hachiman asked.

However, there was no need for him to ask as he realized that he somehow already knew what this summoned creature could do. He could see all of its stats and abilities within his head.

It did not know many spells, and was only around level sixty. Its main weapons were its claws which were a racial trait it carried.

"So tell me, is resurrection possible?" Hachiman asked. All of a sudden, the Bellriver conspiracy had come to his mind with full force yet again.

If he could bring back people to life- he would be able to bring back Bellriver! If there was something that Hachiman was missing which only Bellriver knew and the authorities had removed, he could get to that information.

"Indeed it is, O Summoner," Danava answered. 'Or so this one has heard. But this one knows not any spell which can reverse death."

"Alright," Hachiman said. Resurrection was only possible with priests- and while a demonic priest was something that existed they usually knew spells which healed using negative energy and as such would hurt living creatures. The reason being was that they worshiped evil-aligned deities. On the other hand a demon which worshipped a good god was not unheard of- there was even a small side quest in Yggdrasil involving a demon by the name of Prahlad who preached about a merciful deity and could use holy healing magic.

Perhaps, if resurrection was possible in the real world, he could bring Bellriver back.

But of course this plan of his had some pitfalls to it. For one, resurrection magic in Yggdrasil cost levels and he no clue what 'level' Bellriver would be considered.

As a matter of fact, he had no idea what his own level was, which really felt strange to him. If the world had somehow managed to import Yggdrasil items into it, why was it that he couldn't see any help screen or his stats? He had a vague idea of how strong his summon was but was unable to gauge his own strength.

If Bellriver was too low leveled, in the original game he would disappear if resurrection magic was used on him and his level was too low, but he did not know the equivalent of that in the real world.

On the other hand, he wasn't even sure if it would work. Clearly he was wrong about friendly fire being on. What else was he wrong about?

Among the repertoire of spells Danava knew was **Greater Teleportation **which gave Hachiman an idea.

"There's somewhere I need to send you..." Hachiman said. There was a place he had to break into, but that meeting a few hours earlier hadn't resulted in him getting any help from that person. But with magic, there might have been a way that he could succeed.

* * *

Suzuki and Hiroshi had moved out from the conference room and to the sixth floor of Nazarick. They were currently in the amphitheater.

They had been visited on their way by Mare and Aura- and immediately Aura had started crying and pleading with Hiroshi for forgiveness.

She had got down completely and clutched his shoes while tears were streaming down her face.

Even Mare, who had quite literally done nothing wrong was prostrating himself and repeatedly asking for forgiveness albeit with a confused and scared look on his face.

At first, honestly the two of them had no clue as to what Aura was apologizing for.

The twins were both sobbing and telling things at the same time and in the general confusion their voices melded together to form a meaningless blast of noise.

But something managed to get through the screeching, namely the fact that Aura had attacked Hiroshi.

"Ah, it is alright," Suzuki said as he held up a boney hand. "You didn't know Aura, and were only trying to save me."

Hiroshi was far less dismissive with the whole deal when he recalled the fear he felt as that whip had crackled through the air- but the truth was he did understand why it happened and Aura honestly looked so adorable that he couldn't find it in his heart to berate her for it.

"It's okay, I get it- you wanted to protect the guild master," Hiroshi said. "That's fine."

"No it isn't though!" Aura exclaimed. "You have to punish me! I can't let something like this slide!"

Hiroshi scratched his head. He didn't have any children of his own, but he had owned a dog for a while before it had died of lung cancer and he remembered what he had once done when it had chewed up a pillow.

"Alright then, you get a time out. You have to ah, stand in the corner for ten minutes," Hiroshi said sternly.

"Just ten minutes! That's too small of a punishment!"

"Aura!" Suzuki said. "Are you refusing the punishment of another guild member?"

"Ack! No, of course not Momonga-sama! The will of the Supreme Beings is all that matters!" Aura said and then frantically looked around before suddenly sobbing again.

"E-eh? What happened?" Suzuki asked.

"I'm so sorry Herohero-sama, but I can't even take your punishment properly," Aura exclaimed. "The amphitheater is an oval- so there are no corners!"

Suzuki scratched his chin. Come to think of it, the entire floor was a circle, so there was no 'corner' to speak of.

"In that case," Suzuki said, "go to the house that was built for you and stand in the corner there for ten minutes."

"Yes, Momonga-sama!" Aura exclaimed and ran off.

Mare went right behind her.

"Oi, Mare, why are you going with her? You haven't done anything," Suzuki pointed out.

"Y-yes Momonga-sama, but the thing is that I should've stopped her, being her brother a-and all, and a-anyway, I'd feel more comfortable around my sis," he stammered out.

Hiroshi wondered if this was one of those things where if you hit one twin the other one would also feel pain and if the two of them had some sort of mental bond together.

"Alright then," Hiroshi said.

Suzuki and Hiroshi watched the two elves run out of the stadium and then got onto business.

"Ah, I forgot to apologize for this, Hiroshi-san, but I should also apologize for that incident with Aura," Suzuki said. "I had never told Aura to attack you but she sprang into action unexpectedly."

"I understand, Suzuki-san," Hiroshi said.

"You don't have to call me Suzuki-san," Suzuki said.

"And you don't have to call me Hiroshi-san either," Hiroshi replied with a grin. Suzuki couldn't smile but he did feel delighted.

They had come here because they had figured out that it would be a good idea to test out how much of Yggdrasil's rules had been made real and what abilities Momonga had now. And there was no real better testing ground than this place.

They might as well get to work then.

"So to start off with what I know," Suzuki said, "I think friendly fire has been turned on. It's possible for my abilities to hurt the floor guardians."

"Can they also hurt me?" Hiroshi asked.

"It did back when we first met like this," Suzuki said. "It was a passive negative debuff I have."

"Oh right," Hiroshi said. "But did it work on me because friendly fire is turned on with respect to players as well, or because it doesn't recognize me as a player?"

"I can't know, as far as I know, no one else transformed," Suzuki said. "However, let's get started then, shall we?"

Suzuki started off with his skill to create mid-tier undead.

A puddle of darkness erupted from his hand began to take the shape of a creature which towered above Hiroshi.

A creature of darkness took form. Demonic horns sprouted from its head and its helmet partially covered a rotting face. Eyes which hated God and all of His creations glared at Hiroshi. A flange melded with one hand and a huge shield was held effortlessly by the creature in the other.

In other words, if there was a man who said that evil did not exist, that man had never looked a Death Knight in the eye.

A normal human would've been reduced to a puddle of sobs at the sight of such a monster.

Hiroshi though began clapping and said, "This is amazing, Suzuki-san!" In his awe he had forgotten what they had agreed on before. "Sorry- Suzuki."

The video game had not done this monster justice- as a matter of fact it had not done any of the things within Nazarick justice. Everything looked far better in real life- perhaps it was the fact that he could smell and touch things properly which gave things an extra depth to them.

If Suzuki could've blushed, he would have. "Ah, no, this is nothing special. It is just a simple ability."

"Yeah I know, I've seen it, but it's totally different in real life," Hiroshi said.

"Next," Suzuki said. "I want to see if my physical damage reduction works as well."

Suzuki held out his arm and motioned for the Death Knight to strike it.

Normally a summoned monster would never attack its own summoner, but in the real world perhaps these restrictions had been lifted.

The Death Knight struck with monstrous form, but Suzuki's boney arm was unhurt. That was only to be expected as the Death Knight's level was too low to bypass Suzuki's immunity to physical attacks.

"Next, my magical resistance," Suzuki said. Hiroshi backed away a few paces. "**Magic Arrow**!"

An arrow struck Suzuki's body but did nothing to him.

"Hmm... let me turn my resistance off then," Suzuki said. He cast the spell and the arrow struck him again. 'Yes, I've taken damage."

"Did you?" Hiroshi asked. He couldn't tell as there was no blood- but that was to be expected from an undead creature such as Suzuki.

This all was rather troubling though. In Yggdrasil you couldn't accidentally hurt your own party members or yourself with a wayward spell or strike, but it appeared those restrictions no longer applied. Something like this would change the meta of the game completely and how guilds and their defenses would be structured.

It would also mean that Suzuki had to be careful with which spells he cast or he would end up damaging or even killing Hiroshi.

"Can you try higher tier spells?" Hiroshi asked.

Suzuki nodded and then ordered his Death Knight to stand fifty meters away from them and then cast **Fireball**. The spell was rather weak by the standards of a level hundred player, but given Suzuki's massive stats even this spell would heavily damage the Death Knight.

Suzuki then cast a higher tier spell- **Dragon Lightning **which snaked towards the Death Knight. This was enough to finish it off and it vanished in a cloud of smoke leaving no traces whatsoever.

Hiroshi was clapping yet again. "That was so cool! That lightning spell in particular was really flashy!"

Suzuki turned his head away, embarrassed yet again. It was true that the magic really was far more impressive in the real world compared to the video game, but again, it was really nothing too big.

Hiroshi felt a pang of jealousy towards Suzuki's abilities but then suddenly Suzuki asked, "Do you want to see the rest of the floor?"

"Well, sure, but..." Hiroshi started to mutter.

Suzuki took an item out from his- well, Hiroshi guessed it was Suzuki's inventory but it looked like he was just taking it out of thin air.

It was a relatively common magic item within Yggdrasil which let a player fly without having to use the **Fly **spell. Suzuki tossed it over to Hiroshi.

Hiroshi understood what Suzuki was saying and put the little necklace shaped like a feather on. He knew how to us it the moment he wore it, and then began floating a few feet off the ground.

"Ah!" Hiroshi looked quite shocked even though he had been expecting this.

Suzuki on the other hand didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest as he flew up and gazed at the sky that Blue Planet had created. It made him wonder where Blue Planet was right now and what he would think of Nazarick now that it had materialized in the real world.

"This really is cool," Hiroshi said as he finally caught up to Suzuki. He could see most of the sixth floor from this height- and it took a great deal of effort from him to avoid looking down. "Hmm... do you think fall damage exists? Or does your ability negate that too?"

Suzuki laughed and said, "Only one way to find out!"

Suzuki Satoru then ended the **Fly **spell and landed on the ground. The drop was high enough to doubtlessly kill any human but Suzuki was unaffected as he landed on both feet.

Suzuki Satoru laughed. There was a strange warm feeling in his stomach which hadn't been there before. Truth be told, such an action was rather out of place for him. He would have normally not done something so careless- come to think of it there was a vassal NPC of his which had a similar ability that he could test something like this on. However he had forgotten about such in the heat of the moment.

It had been so long since he had been able to hang out with one of his friends like this. Such a long time indeed...

Hiroshi wobbled through the air as he struggled to control the magic item. It wasn't probably a matter of control really, but rather the fact that Hiroshi was very nervous.

"Ah, that was fun!" Hiroshi said.

Suzuki nodded. It appeared that they had a good grasp of some aspects of how magic worked.

"Wait- do you think time magic works?" Hiroshi asked.

Suzuki paused. Time magic would be incredible to use indeed. In Yggdrasil, it worked by slowing the other player's ability to enter commands, essentially pausing their menu. But in the real world...

Suzuki vanished and then reappeared five feet away. This was no teleportation spell.

"Ah!" Hiroshi exclaimed. "If only I still had my items, I would be resistant to the time stopping effects of that spell."

However, his items had been in his own account when the servers had shut down. As such, Suzuki did not have access to them.

"Ah, I apologize again," Suzuki said while clutching his head.

"You really apologize too much," Hiroshi answered.

"I forgot to give you one of these," Suzuki said and handed Hiroshi a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. There were a lot left so handing them out again wasn't a problem.

"Ah, yes," Hiroshi said and put it on.

The two of them spent hours testing out other spells and game mechanics. They were so caught up in what they were doing that they didn't even notice that Mare and Aura had returned and were watching the two of them from the sidelines.

* * *

The meeting between the Floor Guardians had long since been over, and Demiurge wandered over towards the throne room once again.

"Ah, Demiurge-sama," Solution greeted him as the other Pleiades lowered their heads. "Do you have any new of the Supreme Ones?"

"Both Momonga-sama and Herohero-sama are currently on the Sixth Floor, conduction a series of magical experiments, I believe," Demiurge said.

"Ah, thank you," Solution said and bowed her head. She was clearly interested in news about her creator specifically, but Demiurge understood that sentiment and humored her.

"Ah, forgive me for calling upon you again, Demiurge," Albedo said. "I merely wanted to an update on what the Supreme Beings were doing. I hope I wasn't interrupting you while you were doing anything important?"

"No, no," Demiurge said. "I was merely drawing up plans for a farm- but given the current circumstances it must remain as a theoretical idea only for now."

"Oh? I did not know that you were one who would be interested in something as mundane as farming," Albedo remarked.

"Well, it ain't much but it's honest work," Demiurge said. He was sure he had heard one of the Supreme Beings say something like that, and he had a feeling it was appropriate for the circumstance. "Ah, it may also interest you to know that Aura has received her punishment for attacking Herohero-sama."

"Ah, and what was that?" Albedo asked.

"I do not know the details, Mare did not include that in his message, only that the Supreme Ones seem to be satisfied with her punishment," Demiurge replied.

"That is good enough," Albedo said. She kept smiling, but there was something to how her fingers moved that seemed a little- fidgety and unladylike. "And, how are Momonga-sama and Herohero-sama getting along?"

"I don't know the details, but they seem to be enjoying whatever experiments they are working on," Demiurge said and wagged his tail. "I can understand the joy of _experimenting _myself of course, I already have several ideas, though given the current times, again, it would be wise to hold them off. I'm something of a scientist myself, but no doubt I could not even begin to comprehend the nature of the experiments that the Supreme Ones must be engaged in!"

"Ah, and there was no ah, discord between the two of them, was there?" Albedo asked.

"Nothing that I know of," Demiurge said.

Albedo relaxed for a minute before her eyes widened.

"Intruder!" she said.

"What?" Demiurge said, his tail had stopped wagging mid-air.

"Something entered Nazarick's air space right now- which was large enough to trigger our divination systems," Albedo said while looking upwards. "But it's left."

"Should we pursue it?" Demiurge asked.

"I think we have been told to keep low," Albedo said. "But it would be appropriate to inform Momonga-sama of this new development regardless."

Meanwhile, miles outside the tomb, the pilot who was in a military aircraft that had left Nazarick's airspace was unaware that he had just dodged certain death.

He was on a routine military training exercise and was flying this course for the second time.

All was going as planned- in other words nothing out of the ordinary happened when he noticed a strange shimmering coming from above him.

Just then, his radar began picking something up.

He turned to his radio and asked for any information the satellites were picking up.

And then he saw it for the briefest of seconds.

It was a large silvery, well, _thing _which shone almost as brightly as the sun. It whizzed past his aircraft for a few minutes before it suddenly vanished. It was flying at a speed only slightly slower than that of sound.

Immediately his communications were flooded with people demanding to know where he was and what it was that had just happened.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**This story's panning out nicely. I know some of you thought the girl was Evileye but it was a different character. Not everyone from the New World made it to the Real World after all.**

**As for everything else it's going as planned though there are quite a bit too many story threads, but I'll work on them as they come up. I might even have a lot of things to the less relevant characters happen off-screen and focus more on the guild members and Ainz in general.**

**And yes, I know, the memes inserted would be outdated in the world of 2138, but I don't know what memes they would use. And don't tell me they don't have memes. I'm sure there was a guild in Yggdrasil which existed solely for the purpose of sharing memes. There had to be one.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So as always, thanks for the massive feedback that I got with the last update.**

**Many of you have been asking about the other Supreme Beings- I won't go into each and every one of them right now as they won't be doing anything too important, but I might explain what they've been doing later on when they join the story.**

**A lot of you have other questions, but those will be answered as the fanfic continues.**

* * *

Albedo had conveyed her report to Suzuki, and after some deliberation Suzuki pulled out everyone who was above ground, ordered them to return to the safety of the Tomb, and ordered the illusion covering Nazarick to be completed.

He had no idea if an illusion like that could fool cameras or satellites, but he could hope at least.

Aside from that, there wasn't much else that they could do.

_Or is there?_

A thought had occurred to him.

Ten minutes later, both he and Hiroshi were back in the amphitheater watching a large djinn battle with some of the POP monsters of Nazarick.

Hiroshi was eating popcorn and kept absentmindedly offering it to Suzuki, who was sitting right next to him as Hiroshi kept forgetting that Suzuki couldn't eat.

"Oi, Sis, why are the Supreme Beings watching such weak monsters fight?" Mare asked Aura.

The elves were seated elsewhere in the amphitheater.

"Urm, I don't know, Mare," Aura said while gritting her teeth. "It must be some sort of experiment."

"But what kind of experiment?" Mare asked.

Aura scratched her chin. "I honestly don't know Mare. I don't even know if Demiurge could figure out what goes through Momonga-sama's mind."

Mare's eyes widened. Demiurge was widely known as the smartest within Nazarick- but did the intellect of the Supreme Beings surpass even his?

Well, to be fair, Aura was correct.

This was an experiment- but a rather simple one at that.

The djinn that was fighting was something that Hiroshi had summoned with the item he was holding in his left hand. It was a lamp known as Lamp of the Arabian Nights. It could summon a djinn, a race of heteromorphic creatures in Yggdrasil that usually specialized in magic casting.

There were many crystals with summoning spells imbued in them in the treasury, but they were consumable and so Suzuki didn't want to waste them right now.

The djinn was only level forty and could be called once every three days using the lamp, and the POP monsters that it was fighting against were not very strong either with the best of them capped at level thirty.

This was an experiment to see whether or not it was possible to gain experience points, and by extension, level up in the real world.

Normally Suzuki would've tried such an experiment on himself, but he chose Hiroshi as Hiroshi would be a far better candidate. For one, being the Guild Leader, it might be impossible for Suzuki to farm EXP from his own guild's POP monsters. Hiroshi however, was technically not a guild member right now, at least in his human form. Furthermore, Suzuki would only gain a single experience point per monster killed, and even if he did gain experience points, it would probably still take forever for him to level up.

Suzuki didn't know what level Hiroshi was per se, and neither did Hiroshi either, but Suzuki could see his health bar and compare it to his own. It would appear that Hiroshi was only about level three or so, but given the varying nature of how different races and classes gained health points it couldn't be said that this was wholly accurate.

As such, given that in Yggdrasil players would gain experience from creatures summoned by them, that meant that Hiroshi didn't even need to fight by himself. Even better was the fact that Hiroshi, though he was using a comparatively high level summon would still be counted as being only about level three (if that was his real level) for the purposes of calculating EXP gained. As such, this was known as a tactic that lower leveled players could use to quickly plough through the initial levels quickly. One could go from level one to level forty within a single day with some help from other players.

Of course, there were some potential flaws to this experiment. If killing POP monsters didn't give EXP, or if summons didn't grant summoners EXP for their kills, or if Hiroshi would still be counted as a guild member, or if EXP gain didn't work in the real world- well, if any of those 'ifs' was true, then the experiment would fail. However, given that summons could always be summoned again and the djinn was not a powerful creature, and that the POP monsters, if they followed Yggdrasil rules, would spawn on their own accord without any need for gold, the price of a failed experiment would be practically zero. Also, Suzuki had not brought out all of the POP monsters of Nazarick just in case- only half of them.

The djinn was able to defeat the majority of the POP monsters with ease given that if could **Fly **out of range and kite them with attacks. Once the stronger ones had fallen, it then resorted to its fists. Being a heteromorphic monster, it had its own racial advantages and disadvantages, though the POP monsters did not have anything that could counter it and as such it was able to make short work of the rest of the monsters, although its health had been greatly depleted as a result.

Suzuki glanced towards Hiroshi. His health bar had increased by a noticeable amount, it had almost doubled as a matter of fact. However, there was no mana bar.

"I feel... sort of weird," Hiroshi said. It was a strange feeling- as if his body had gotten lighter somehow. As he focussed, he realized something else that was different. "Hey- did they add something called 'Martial Arts' to Yggdrasil?"

"Eh?" Suzuki answered. "No- not that I know of."

Hiroshi had never heard of such a thing known as a 'Martial Art' before, but he somehow now knew, deep down, that he could use one. Whatever it was. And he knew what it did, somehow, instinctively. It was like how Suzuki had mentioned that he could somehow knew what each and every single one of his magic spells did.

As such, given that it was a non-lethal move, Hiroshi decided to go ahead and test it against the djinn.

"**Martial Art- Possibility Sense!**" Hiroshi said.

It was a Martial Art that would let him get to know the possibility of victory against an opponent.

As such, his possibility of defeating this djinn was a hundred percent.

That was all that had happened. He glanced at his hands. They were still human hands. He got up and did a few practice punches and kicks. His body felt more powerful.

Honestly, he still felt disappointed. He had hoped that with leveling up, he might get his Yggdrasil avatar's body, but not only did he not turn into a slime, he didn't even get a choice on what his levels were used for apparently. They seemed to have been allotted to him randomly. He didn't even know what he had leveled up into.

The fact that he had gained something called a 'Martial Art' implied that he was sort of a warrior, which was a real bummer considering the fact that he was hoping to learn how to use magic. Sure, it was great to have inhuman strength but truthfully it wasn't as fun as casting spells.

Hiroshi told Suzuki about what his new skill could do with a bored tone.

Suzuki however seemed to be far more excited than Hiroshi, though again, it was difficult to tell given his skeletal face.

"Ah- what a curious ability!"

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Hiroshi said. He was rather bummed out that that was the only ability he had gotten.

"I can't imagine something like that existing in Yggdrasil," Suzuki explained. "From what did this skill calculate the odds of you winning to be a hundred percent? I don't think you're nearly at the djinn's level yet, but- oh! Maybe it had taken into account the fact that it was your summon and you could order it to lose. But a computer game such as Yggdrasil couldn't possibly take into account so many possibilities at once."

Now that Hiroshi thought about it, he had to agree that it was kind of strange. Plus, this ability would've actually been quite useful back in Yggdrasil.

There were players who hunted player killers for sport, and as such many of them would use the spells **False Data- Life **and **False Data- Mana **to make their health and mana bars were inaccurate, and then change their gear so that they looked like low level players. Whenever a player killer would arrive, they would then turn around and completely destroy them.

If this Martial Art was so accurate, it would've helped avoid such a thing happening. Also, if one knew the enemy was so strong they had no chance to defeat it, that would mean that they could flee. From a tactical standpoint, it was an invaluable skill, though there were probably ways to counter it.

"Try testing it a bit more," Suzuki said.

Hiroshi nodded and tried to use the skill on Suzuki. It didn't seem to trigger any of Suzuki's defensive skills, and the result was that Hiroshi knew he had no chance of defeating Suzuki.

Well, that was only to be expected.

"It's probably due to my physical immunity," Suzuki said. He was invulnerable to all physical attacks from anything level sixty and below. Just then, Suzuki stood up. "Wait, there's something else we can try!"

Hiroshi wondered what Suzuki was saying when Suzuki clapped his hands and called for Aura.

Aura rushed over immediately. "Yes, Momonga-sama?"

Suzuki mentioned a list of monsters he wanted delivered to the amphitheater.

Once they arrived, Hiroshi took a swing at each of them using a sword. Suzuki's physical damage nullification was valid for anyone below level sixty, but there were lower tiers of physical damage nullification, some taking place at level forty, others at twenty, and so on. And when a lineup of creatures with such abilities was formed, it was possible for Hiroshi to have a rough idea of how strong he was.

Come to think of it, Hiroshi realized he didn't even need to swing a sword at them- he just had to use **Possibility Sense**. Since he could not use magic, any enemy that he couldn't harm with physical damage was impossible to beat.

As such, Hiroshi found out that he was somewhere between level ten and twenty.

The djinn he had summoned was now gone and so was the mental link he had with it given that the time the summon would last was over.

"That was quite impressive, and we did get quite a bit of information," Suzuki remarked. "Do you want to continue? I could get more POP monsters."

"No, thanks for now," Hiroshi said.

"Ah! I'm sorry- you look tired," Suzuki said.

"Yeah, it's weird," Hiroshi said. He hadn't really done anything which was too physically demanding. However, now that he thought about it, using that Martial Art seemed to get harder the more he tried. It was as if he had spent the whole day intensely studying for an interview.

Hiroshi bid farewell to Suzuki and used his ring to teleport towards Nazarick's kitchen.

Although he had used the ring several times today it still amazed him how he could literally warp the world around him with just a thought.

Now that was the kind of power that he'd like, not something like what he'd gotten right now.

Getting food from the kitchen wasn't hard at all- they were practically begging to give him all of it when he said he was hungry, and he had to point out that he could only carry a certain amount. In response to this, all of the staff assured him that they would carry it all to his room.

That was right- he technically did have a room reserved for himself. He was feeling a bit tired even though it was still twelve- perhaps that Martial Art had taken more out of him than he had expected. He still took some food in his hands though just in case it would take the others time to get to his room.

With his hands crammed with food, he turned around and stepped on something odd.

Someone's foot.

Hiroshi Hirota stumbled and dropped what he was carrying.

"Agh! A thousand apologies!" a man in an orange tuxedo said as he got to his knees.

_Ah, this is one of Ulbert's creations._

The very thought was enough for him to shudder.

However, Demiurge did nothing but bow his head apologetically.

"Ah, no, it's my fault," Hiroshi said.

"Nonsense Herohero-sama," Demiurge replied. "I should have taken care when I noticed you."

Demiurge had been preoccupied with the problem of what the Supreme Beings were planning and as such had been too slow to react when Herohero had turned around.

"It's alright though," Hiroshi said. "Ah, could you help me carry this stuff to my room then?"

Demiurge, rather than reply, practically snatched all the stuff from Hiroshi and with a sweep of his tail collected everything that had scattered on the floor.

Hiroshi would've normally just teleported, but as he realized that he didn't need to haul all that stuff back to his room he decided to try the long way.

After all, it would be great to see the rest of the guild base that he had helped build.

The two of them walked in step.

"Forgive me for asking, but I simply wished to know if your experiments bore any fruit, Herohero-sama," Demiurge prodded after about five minutes of silence.

"Huh? Experiments?"

"Indeed, the ones that you and Momonga-sama were performing on the sixth floor," Demiurge said.

Hiroshi narrowed his eyes. 'H-How did you know about that?"

"Mare told me all about it," Demiurge said.

Oh right, the guardians could communicate with each other. Hiroshi sort of had forgotten about that.

"Ah, well, we did manage to get some results," Hiroshi said. Truthfully, it had been a rather fruitful day even if he was disappointed with the results about his training. They had managed to confirm many things- including the fact that there were several things that they didn't know about, such as Martial Arts.

Speaking of Martial Arts, was it possible that Demiurge might know about them? Demiurge was supposed to be the smartest NPC, but Hiroshi didn't know how that translated into real life. There was no intelligence stat in Yggdrasil, after all.

"Have you heard of something known as 'Martial Arts?'" Hiroshi asked.

"Forgive me, for this one has not heard of such a thing," Demiurge said.

"Well, I managed to unlock one while training," Hiroshi said. "But Suz-I mean Momonga didn't know about what it was either. I haven't seen it before."

Demiruge's eyes widened. "Did you truly discover something that not even Momonga-sama did not know about? And it was something unknown up till now? As expected of the Supreme Beings!"

"Oh yeah, I just wanted to know if you knew what a Martial Art might be," Hiroshi said. He didn't really know the extent of knowledge that the NPCs had, did they know everything about the game world? Or did they only know things about what they had been programmed with? Did they know about all of the items they had been given?

Eventually they reached to where the guild member's rooms were kept.

"Thank you, Demiurge," Hiroshi said. He was actually quite surprised at how affable the archfiend was- he was sure that Ulbert had not programmed his NPC to be so servile.

"There is no need for your thanks, Herohero-sama," Demiurge said as Hiroshi took the stuff from Demiurge's arms.

"Oh, there's something else-" Hiroshi said. "Can you send a message to Solution and ask her to come to my room? I'd like to meet with her when she's free."

"But of course," Demiurge said, now on one knee as his hands had been freed. "I am sure she will come to your room immediately!"

"Uh, no, there's no need for that, I don't want to disturb her if she's doing something important," Hiroshi said.

"No, there can be no greater goal than that of serving a Supreme One," Demiurge said.

"Uh, alright then, thanks," Hiroshi said and retreated into his room while kicked the door shut behind him. He wanted to get out of that awkward situation as soon as was possible.

However, as he shut the door a wave of guilt came over him. If he thought of the Great Tomb of Nazarick like a corporation, then Demiurge would definitely be a junior executive at least. As such, asking him to do something like carry food around or to carry messages as if he was some sort of errand boy would be a disgrace to his position, wouldn't it? Hiroshi remembered his own office- at the very least there people took turns on who would order out food and the like.

It seemed that Hiroshi however had turned into the kind of boss that forced the intern to fetch everyone's coffee rather than trying to teach the intern something special. No, not even an intern- in this scenario he had done something like that so someone who held a management title at the very least! It was like a CEO telling a manager to fetch him coffee.

He chastised himself and told himself that he wouldn't let something like this happen again.

He then kept everything that he had got from the kitchens on a table.

He examined the room- this was his room and he had technically been here before in-game.

However it was an entirely new feeling to be here in person. The game did not capture the grandeur of the place.

He had once been lucky enough to stay inside a five star hotel on a business trip, but that paled in comparison to this. He went to lay down on the bed- amazing!

The bed was somehow so soft it felt like he was sinking into it and at the same time firm enough to support him.

He had been feeling drowsy earlier that morning while getting ready for work but now felt wide awake. Either it had been Solution's magic, or perhaps the leveling up, but either way he felt himself full of energy despite the small amount of mental fatigue he was suffering from.

However, he wasn't very happy with leveling up given the results it had brought. As a matter of fact, he was kind of scared at the prospect of leveling up more.

The reason was that he clearly had no control over what kinds of levels he would gain. In Yggdrasil it was far more important, especially in competitive play, to level up into the right kind of class rather than simply level up. Also, unlike in the video game, he knew no easy way that he could lose levels. The obvious way to do it in game was to die- that would free up five levels for you to invest somewhere else.

Of course, he didn't know if that would work in the real world. There was no real way to attempt to do so, other than to die, and Hiroshi wasn't going to risk that yet.

That was the real reason he had declined Suzuki's offer to train more. He wanted to be sure that he could level up into classes he cared about rather than into random ones before he dedicated himself to getting stronger.

These thoughts were interrupted as he heard knocking at the door.

"Herohero-sama, it is I, Solution Epsilon. May I came in?" a voice rang.

Hiroshi found it weird to listen to her voice. He had not programmed one in, and her voice matched that of a young girl in her twenties. It was not an unpleasant voice, but it made him wonder how it was that her voice had been decided given he had never written a description for it.

"Come in. I wasn't expecting you so soon," Hiroshi said.

"Pardon me," she said as she opened the door a crack. "If this is an inappropriate time, I will come later."

"No, no," Hiroshi said. "Please come in."

Solution walked in and then got on one knee just like Demiurge before her.

"There's no need for that, you can stand up," Hiroshi said. The whole display made him feel uncomfortable. He felt like an imposter sitting on such a wonderful bed.

Solution got up and smiled.

_Urgh, why did I make her like an H game character?_

Hiroshi felt his heart throb. Now that his mind was no longer so consumed by chaos, he was able to see his creation properly for the first time.

She really was beautiful- in his mind that was how a perfect beauty would look like.

"As your creation, I await your next order," Solution said.

Her smile was heavenly and quite genuine- unlike the scarier smile she had given him and Suzuki a while earlier.

"Oh, there's nothing that needs to be done, I just wanted to, ah, um, spend time with you," Hiroshi said. "You know, get to know you a little."

Solution smiled even more widely, and now her face was quite distorted. "Of course! Nothing would please me more than to spend time with my creator Herohero-sama, the one who gave me life!"

When she said 'one who gave me life' Hiroshi couldn't help but feel as if she was basically saying that Hiroshi was her father. That made him quite flustered as he was having a lot of thoughts towards her that a father would not have towards his child.

But now that he had gotten to this point, it made him wonder what it was that they should do next. He had not had a lot of female friends or colleagues, and as such was unsure of what he should start off with.

_It's like suddenly having your imaginary friend come to life! It might even be something I would've been happy about a few years back, but now, it just makes my stomach hurt by thinking about it._

"Ah, and I wish to congratulate you, Herohero-sama," Solution said.

Eh? Congratulate him on what?

"Er, for what exactly? I don't think I accomplished anything special," Hiroshi said.

"Ah, there is no need to be modest, Herohero-sama!" Solution said. "Demiurge said that you had discovered something known as a 'Martial Art' that has never been known before-" she then paused as her facial expression froze. "Could it be that discovering something like that is nothing out of the ordinary for someone such as yourself?"

Huh? How many people had Demiurge told that news too? He had only mentioned the phrase in passing, but it looked like the entire Tomb somehow knew about it. Did news spread that fast in here? Well, it was only obvious it would with the use of the **Message **spell.

But why had Demiurge told everyone? Come to think of it, Hiroshi couldn't really blame Demiurge though as he had not said that it was sensitive information- but it wasn't normal for someone to spread something they had just heard like that, was it?

As it was, Hiroshi tried to use **Possibility Sense **on Solution and saw that it gave him a hundred percent chance of victory. That was probably because she was his creation and wouldn't fight back.

"Uh, yeah," Hiroshi said. "So, uh, what do you like to do?"

"Ah," Solution said as her smile widened even further somehow. "There is nothing more satisfying than dissolving humans and other lesser creatures slowly and painfully inside me. If they are helpless and innocents, even better!"

Hiroshi had sort of expected something like that, but it wasn't a hobby that he could share with someone else.

What was it anyway that he tended to do with his other friends? There was playing Yggdrasil, though that wasn't possible- or maybe, he could sort of play it in real life? But, that had far too many problems with it.

Either that, or they could go out for drinks. But he was aware of what Solution ate and drank, and that was out of the question as well.

Another option was to go watch a movie or an anime together. But what kind of movie would Solution like? A monster movie or a horror movie, most likely, he assumed.

He racked his brains and all he could think of was to maybe take a walk together.

Well, that would have to do. For now.

* * *

Mr. Yamamoto was the CEO of Labcorp Inc. a company that was officially listed as a business consultancy firm.

That was also technically true, but the kind of 'consulting' that they did for companies was not of the, ah, legal kind. Rather, they specialized in getting work done that no one else wanted to do.

Mostly it wasn't too dirty- just some employees didn't want to quit or were causing trouble and wouldn't shut up. Dealing with them was easy, but they had also covered up quite a number of _incidents_.

However, they were clearly compensated very well for these activities given how lavishly their CEO's office was decorated. There was a tiger skin hung up on a wall- illegal of course- bought from the Chinese black market. It was rather impressive given that tigers had gone extinct in 2087- this had either been an animal that had been hidden from the world or a failed attempt at cloning from some hidden lab somewhere. The floor was blanketed by a luxurious Persian rug covering the marble floor and flowers (real flowers mind you) lined many of the windows.

Mr. Yamamoto had been relaxing in his office. News of the flash of light that enveloped the world was lost on him- he had been asleep when it had happened and he had been granted no special powers for the same. As for the quarantine, that was something that annoyed him, but given the fact that his office was more like a bar/restaurant than an actual office he knew he wouldn't be too bothered by it. As a matter of fact, he had been wondering if his secretary- who was well known as being a 'secretary with benefits' was still around to perhaps _entertain_ him.

However, such thoughts were lost from his mind as he was now focussed on just one thing- staying alive.

"I-I'll give you anything you want!" he screamed. "Don't hurt me!"

There was a monster in front of him which was ruining the serenity of his office. An ugly, hideous, horned red monster.

He had tried to call for security, but all of his phones had been disconnected by the monster before he could.

He had told his employees- those that were still in the office, not to disturb him unless they had found his secretary. As such, no one would come in. The office was well insulated to prevent eavesdropping but that feature he had ordered had now turned it into a prison as even if he screamed no one outside would probably hear him.

From behind the monster, a man stepped out into the light and slammed a piece of paper on the desk.

Paper? In this day and age?

It had a single name written on it: Tukuta Miyazaki.

It was a strange name, which was why he realized who it was immediately. It was an employee of another company which he had ordered a hit on. That job had paid exceptionally well.

"Tell me everything you know about this man," the man said. He was wearing a strange cloth over his face and had sunglasses on. Granted, with the ozone layer about as thick as a sheet of styrofoam, it was probably a good idea to wear sunglasses almost all the time, but it was still barely morning. Also his voice was distorted as if the man was using a voice modulator. He sounded like a robot going through puberty.

Mr. Yamamoto had never been put at gun point before. He handled such nasty business while keeping his distance away.

"I don't know who he is," Mr. Yamamoto lied instinctively. If he gave up such information, he would be killed regardless of what happened. And if not that, his business would be ruined regardless.

"Shall I make him speak, O Summoner?" the monster asked.

The man glanced at the monster. "Can you do that? Without hurting him I mean?"

The monster shook its head. "He won't be too hurt though. Don't worry."

Sweat poured down Mr. Yamamoto's neck.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

He hadn't expected an answer, but the man stopped giving orders and looked up at the ceiling as if contemplating who he was. "My name is Ulb-I mean, my name is Jaldabaoth."

Mr. Yamamoto didn't even try to pronounce the name.

"However, don't bother hurting him," the man said. "I have another idea."

The man lifted a strange ornament- a statue made in the shape of a devil holding several orbs in multiple hands.

With a spray of dark smoke a creature appeared in the room.

It had the vague shape of a beautiful woman wearing a brown kimono with pink flowers decorating it. He would have thought of her as very beautiful had he not noticed her yellowish catlike eyes and the two horns protruding from her skull.

"I need to extract information from this target," the man said in his weird distorted voice.

"**Charm Person**," the woman said and suddenly Mr. Yamamoto felt at ease.

He could trust this woman- she was one of his closest friends after all!

"How do you do?" she asked in a honeyed voice.

"I'm good," he said.

"And what do you know about this name?" she asked, motioning towards the name written on a piece of paper.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you," he answered with a shrug. Sure, she might be his friend, but this was a business secret after all.

"Umu, and why not?" the woman asked. She had such an adorable and innocent expression on her face.

"It's a secret," he said. "And plus, if you know, they'll hurt you."

How could he risk the life of such a good friend of his by telling her such a nasty piece of information?

His friend's face contorted into a face of rage- the serenity and friendliness it had had was now gone.

"Is there anything stronger you can give him?" the man with a cloth around his face said. Mr. Yamamoto had almost forgotten about him.

"Indeed, Summoner," the woman replied. "**Schizophrenic Lust!**"

This was a fourth tier spell within Yggdrasil which was reserved for monsters such as sirens and succubi which were known the charm men. It would grant the user complete control over a target- even the ability to order them to kill themselves. However, it had a drawback namely that it only worked on monsters the opposite gender of the user, and of course, creatures such as Undead were completely immune. It was basically a far more powerful **Charm **spell and magic resistances applied to it as well.

Mr. Yamamoto did not know anything about this though. All he knew suddenly was his own lust as he felt heat flow into his lower body parts. This woman was exceptionally beautiful and before he knew it he was kissing her hand as she wrapped a hand around his face.

"Ah, please don't stop!" he said. He found that he no longer cared about the other monster and the man in the room. He didn't care that this woman was clearly not human- he just wanted to pin her down and-

"Oi, oi, I didn't come to see this, hurry up!" the man from earlier said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Mr. Yamamoto did not even bother wiping out the drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

"Can you tell me about Tukuta Miyazaki then?" she asked. "Tell me and we can continue."

"Of course," Mr. Yamamoto said. "We had a job which ordered a hit on him."

"Oh, and why so?"

"Because he had found about the deaths of a few other workers at the company he worked with," Mr. Yamamoto said. "I didn't know the details, but some other members at his company had died. We had made it look like a suicide, but then he figured it out. And so, the company also ordered a hit on him as well as the usual work."

"Oh? And why did those workers actually die?" the woman asked.

"I don't know," Mr. Yamamoto said. "I didn't need to know."

By now he had had enough and reached for the woman's chest. His hand was knocked aside as he suddenly felt himself lose consciousness.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**I made up the spell Schizophrenic Lust as it's been mentioned that there's a higher version of the Charm spell but I couldn't find a name anywhere, so well, that's what we have.**

**Hope you enjoyed, and do please leave your feedback as a review! I love reading feedback from you guys.**

**Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for all the reviews last chapter. OldWorldVulture, sorry to disappoint you with the Evileye thing.**

**But, for those wondering, yes, there is a link between which New Worlders were transported to the Modern World. **

**That said, I'm glad to know that y'all are enjoying this series.**

**Also, many of you have asked about Hiroshi gaining his slime body. Well, I'll explain stuff about that and what the flash was later on in the story.**

* * *

Hayato shuffled across the street hastily.

The sun was coming up- which meant that the sun's heat and ultraviolet rays would combine with the chemicals in the air and make it even nastier than it was at night.

Of course, this was normal for this world, so that didn't really pick up his interest.

It did however annoy Draudillon Oriculus who found that the air was someone now even less breathable than before- something she had been sure was impossible just a few moments before. How did anyone live in a place like this? Was this some sort of curse placed on the environment, or the result of a magical experiment gone wrong? If so, why didn't the people here just leave and go live somewhere else?

She had finished (and hid away) the bottle she had drank. Or to be more precise, bottles. She might have gotten a bit carried away and drank about three or four bottles. Anyway who would've seen her would've been amazed that a little girl had that kind of a capacity, but the thing was that her ability to drink was based on her real age and not this diminutive body she was using.

As such, she was still kind of tipsy and had trouble getting into the backseat but she managed somehow. Her Ring of the Unicorn would make sure she didn't get liver cirrhosis or any other major bad effects due to her large alcohol intake, but it didn't protect her from getting drunk. Come to think of it, it wouldn't cure the hangover she'd inevitably get later on either- but she assumed she'd just pop a healing potion to deal with that later.

The car that Hayato had managed to get was a relatively newer one. He had made some excuse and said that he needed to drop by his house for half an hour. He got some strange looks but thankfully enough no one questioned him too deeply.

His plan was to either figure our where the girl lived and drop her off there, or if that wasn't possible or her parents had been taken, to stash her away at his own house for a while. He would then come back for his normal patrols, but he had to be quick.

"I need you to hide yourself," Hayato said as he motioned for the girl to sit not on the backseat, but rather, on the carpet and told her to keep her head down. It would not be good for either of them if she was discovered.

"Oh? But no one can see us, right?" she asked as she was wedged uncomfortably on the floor. The windows were tinted and she couldn't see out of them and if one peered from the outside, one couldn't see inside the car either. All one would see would be one's own reflection.

But Hayato knew better. The type of tinting used for these windows was a special filter, and street cameras and any cameras attached to drones could see right through a window tinted with it as if it was clear glass. That was why anyone who wanted any real privacy from the state surveillance system would not use this feature and instead use curtains, but of course, there were no curtains in this car.

And so, the only thing for him to do was to tell the girl to stay out of sight.

Just as he was thanking his luck that everything was going so well, his phone rang.

It was his chief.

"Uh, yeah, Chief?"

"Where are you right now?"

"Just about to take off," Hayato said.

"Ah good, an issue just came up and we need someone on it right now. We've received a distress call from Labcorp Inc. where they've had a break in apparently. We couldn't get a clear response from the caller, just that someone had broken in and was now gone."

Hayato scratched his chin. "Can someone else handle it for now?"

"No, not this kind of client. It needs to be dealt with now."

Hayato understood what this meant. Labcorp was clearly an important site though he had never heard of it himself before, and by the tone of the Chief's voice it didn't seem as if he would relent on this.

Oh well, this wouldn't likely derail his plans too much.

He would try to deal with the matter as quickly as possible and get the girl to stay in the car.

Cars in the world of 2138 were equipped with software which automated driving, but police cars were an exception. The reason was that even till date, a computer system capable of fully operating a car had not been designed- at least, not one which was cost-effective. As it was the software was usually just an assistant to individuals who might be disabled and not be able to drive as they once could. As it was police cars and other government vehicles of importance could not be automated lest they fall victims to hackers.

However, Hayato was a reasonable enough driver as all members of the force were and driving did not bother him.

Along the way that he was driving, he decided to see what he could listen to. The Internet was down, but there was a large library of downloaded songs on this system.

One was from an American singer who had become rather popular in the 2060s, and as he switched it on and started shaking his head slightly to the tune, he nearly lost control of his vehicle when he heard the words coming from the speaker.

It was a good thing that the roads were almost deserted thanks to the quarantine otherwise he would have almost certainly ran into someone. Thankfully he managed to regain control of the wheel almost immediately.

Draudillon Oriculus moaned. The sudden swerving was doing nothing good for her drunk mind. Even worse- there was some weird smell in this carriage and he had difficulty holding in her liquor. But she tried her best not to vomit, because she knew that things would get very bad if she did.

The words from the speakers- they were in Japanese! In other words, Hayato understood them entirely. However, this was not a cover of the song in another language and now that he saw the track's description, it was still listed as being in English.

Even more bizarre was that he was sure this was the original singer's tone and temper, but the singer had never recorded a Japanese version herself. Not that Hayato didn't know English- he had studied it, albeit not in very much detail, and could make out some of the words. He could even read English text at the level of a middle school child in America.

He just turned the music off, chalking it up to the software being faulty and not showing him that it was a dub. Yeah, maybe he had accidentally hit some settings on it which set everything to be a Japanese dub. Either that, or someone who had used the car before had tampered with the settings.

But still... to put his mind at ease he went to a German news website that he was sort of familiar with. Yes, the words were still written in German and not Japanese. There was even a prompt asking him if he wanted the software to translate the words for him- into Japanese no less. It would be strange for a window like that to pop up if the settings had been changed to put everything in English.

As a final test he went to some public access documentaries. There was one famous one in French he had heard before which was a documentary of the German invasion during the last world war. He pressed on it and a voice began narrating the story.

In Japanese. While Japanese subtitles floated across the screen, and the same French national he had seen before narrated the same story but in Japanese for some reason. No- his mouth was not moving as if it was speaking Japanese, but the words were Japanese. He didn't remember the man's voice that well but it resembled it- but had it been dubbed over? He checked the description and it said that it was French audio but subtitles in forty-five languages were available.

It all made no sense and he shut it all down as he focussed on the road.

Kudos to the nonexistant traffic they got to their destination fast.

Hayato instructed the girl to stay put, who lazily moaned a "Yes..." somehow. She had sort of fallen asleep by this point.

Come to think of it, an outsider would get a rather odd impression of they knew that Hayato was carrying around a little girl who was drunk in the back of his truck. It would not be made easier by the fact that his name was 'Touch Me' in Yggdrasil.

He had no clue what was in store for him though.

The front of the building was a rather famous sushi chain which he had visited on occasion. It would normally be bustling with activity but given the time and the fact that a quarantine was in effect it was shut down. Above that were several floors which he assumed belong to Labcorp's business operations.

It was clearly a well enough company given the status of the reception hall, though it wasn't a very exquisite one either. There were a few luckless staff members staring at him with sleepy eyes- this company was clearly not as blackhearted an enterprise as the one that Herohero- ah, what had his name been? Ah yes, Hiroshi. The one that played as a slime. The corporation he had worked for probably had several dozen employees locked away thanks to the quarantine in effect. There were only five which he could see here, and as he saw it, they did seem to have some basic facilities such as water and food at least.

Thinking of his old friends brought back old memories but he pushed them aside. He had a job to do. And who knows? There might be a silver lining to this quarantine, given that a lot of them might be freed from their jobs. Perhaps they could meet up in Yggdrasil once again. Oh no wait- he realized that the Internet was down, so there was no such silver lining.

The moment the employees noticed his uniform though their eyes widened and snapped out of their drowsy states of mind and he was hastily ushered in and led up a flight of stairs to the CEO's office.

The door to the office was made of a reinforced alloy which could stop bullets. Hayato recognized it as such doors were present throughout police HQ, but it was odd to see such a thing in a corporate office. While the door was strong, it did not look good and clashed with the surrounding decor- though perhaps the person in charge did not mind.

The inside of the office surprised him as it was as lavish as the office of the CEO of a large enterprise. This company couldn't have employed more than thirty people, so it was immediately suspicious as to how the head could afford such a place.

And it wasn't even the fact that it was richly decorated that shocked him the most- was that an actual tiger skin hung on the wall? It was illegal but Hayato knew there was little point in reporting it, but they could have at least done a better job at trying to at least conceal some things in the office given that a police officer was dropping by. The whole place looked like the den of a drug lord.

The only thing which contrasted from the mafia lord picture was that the the occupant of the room was neither cool nor calculating- or perhaps he might've been earlier but he certainly was not right now.

Mr. Yamamoto's hair looked frayed and his clothes were out of order. He had what looked like a small burn on his left hand, and he had been sweating so profusely that there were pit marks on his suit. He seemed somewhat relieved on seeing Hayato- think of that, a criminal happy to see a police officer! But given that Mr. Yamamoto did toe the lines of the megacorps it was only natural that he could rely on law enforcement in his time of need.

And that really pissed Hayato off.

For starters, the average citizen could not rely on police protection. If the average citizen was robbed, they would get a report registered but usually nothing would come of it, and the perpetrator would likely not be caught unless there was some significant pressure from the megacorps to do so. Hayato knew this of course, but being reminded of it so starkly still disappointed him.

Second of all, Mr. Yamamoto's story made no sense at all. It all seemed like a bad acid trip, and if not that, sleep paralysis.

Mr. Yamamoto was clearly important given that he had received police help almost immediately, and that too with the quarantine being in effect, but that didn't change Hayato's opinion that this was a colossola waste of police time and that he should file a report against Mr. Yamamoto for the same.

"Tell me," Hayato said. "Were you on any kind of hallucinogens or illicit drugs at the time?"

Mr. Yamamoto looked flabbergasted. 'What! No! I'm telling the truth!"

Hayato looked around the office. "In that case, where is the security camera footage to back up your assertion that a uh, demon somehow materialized into your office?"

"There are no cameras," Mr. Yamamoto said. "Not in here."

Hayato would've found this odd to believe, but then he realized that there must have been lots of things going on within this office that Mr. Yamamoto would've preferred never get out. In that case, it made quite a bit of sense to not have any recording devices in the office itself. After all, if the door was as sturdy as it looked, it meant that no one could break in and even if they did their faces would be caught on the cameras outside.

Hayato decided to listen to his story once again. It was ridiculous- all of it, and more so the second time.

But there was a single thing that bothered him. Mr. Yamamoto said that a woman who had appeared in the office 'charmed' him, but he didn't use the Japanese word. No, he used the word **Charm **in English. It reminded Hayato of the **Charm **spell in Yggdrasil- come to think of it, the effect that he described was quite similar to the in-game lore of the game.

"Did she use the word 'Charm?'" Hayato asked, wanting to confirm the detail.

"Yes," Mr. Yamamoto said. "I heard the word clearly."

Japanese video games generally used English names for the spells for the simple fact that it made the spells sound 'exotic' to Japanese gamers in a small way. There was no reason for Mr. Yamamoto's hallucination to do the same- or maybe it did so because Mr. Yamamoto was also a fan of games such as Yggdrasil?

Another thing that stood out was the object Mr. Yamamoto said was being held by the man who commanded the two demons. It was a description he had heard repeated over and over by Ulbert in Yggdrasil. But then again, a statue of a demon was not an odd thing for a demonic sorcerer to hold, so perhaps that was the reason why Mr. Yamamoto had thought of it like that.

"Well then, I think we're done here," Hayato said as he got up.

Mr. Yamamoto protested, of course, but Hayato ignored most of his asseritons of: "I wasn't crazy! It really happened, I tell you!"

On the way back to his police car, Hayato went ahead and made a phone call to HQ.

He was asked to hold for about four minutes. There seemed to be a deluge of calls given the quarantine.

"Ah yes, I wanted to say that I have taken a report from Labcorp Inc.," Hayato said. He relayed what he had heard in short.

The moment he had said the word 'monster' suddenly the line disconnected and seconds later he was talking to someone else. He was hit with a barrage of questions. What exactly had happened? Did he get all the details? Was there camera footage? Did anyone else know about this?

Hayato tried explaing that he was sure that the man was probably just on drugs or something, but was instructed to seal off Labcorp Inc. He was to go ahead and interrogate the man again, properly this time- he was told, and to make sure that word of this did not get out. They were also going to send a team his way.

Hayato had no idea what was going on. The way that voice on the phone was talking was authoritative- but also seemed very panicky. What had gotten it so worried?

He went back inside and relayed the orders he was given. He was met with some protest from other employees within the building, but they died down when the reinforcements arrived.

_What? Did they send half the police force in the city down here?_

Of course, that was an exxageration- but there were still six giant armored trucks outside and when the people inside came out Hayato recognized the Kenpeitai.

Named after the Secret Police of Imperial Japan of old, even a civilian could recognize them in there characteristic masks and military grade weapons.

Once the people inside saw who was coming to get them, they no longer looked angry and instead had looks of despair on their faces. Some even began crying.

Hayato couldn't blame them. He had never really had encounters with the Kenpeitai but he had heard the rumors. If you were unlucky enough to have them knock on your doorstep, you would probably never be seen again.

Or so the urban legends went.

The regular employees were taken away without much of a fuss into the back of a truck.

The only time a problem arose was when they had gone to arrest Mr. Yamamoto himself. Hayato had thought that it would have gone smoothly but he heard several sounds of gunfire, and five minutes later someone was taken out in a body bag.

Hayato himself was just standing at the side- as someone who shoved a badge into his face and started yelling at him told him to do.

Afterwards, he was taken to a different truck than the one the employees were being kept in.

Their captain approached him and to Hayato's surprise, he was far more formal and polite than was expected. He sort of resembled the Chief of Police- Hayato would not have been surprised if someone told him that the two were brothers.

Once Hayato relayed what he had seen and heard, he was pretty much let go.

That was it. There was no explanation- on why they had come over, on why they had arrested the employees, or why Mr. Yamamoto had been shot.

Nope. Nada. Zilch. They just told him it was classified and instructed him to go about his other work as usual.

Hayato had seen a lot of police movies- far too many as a matter of fact, especially before he had joined the force. In each of those movies, this would be the point in the movie where he, the lone police officer, would ask for more details or end up poking up deeper into the matter than he had intended thereby leading to the revelation of some cover up.

But life was not a movie.

He had realized that a long time ago.

And anyway he was already doing something rather illegal, and so he simply saluted and walked out.

He called his chief telling him that the work was done but the lines were busy so he just dropped him a message instead.

* * *

Hiroshi walked nervously with Solution by his side. They were wandering around the ninth floor of Nazarick.

He had to admit that the two of them looked weird standing side by side. If anyone on the street saw them, they would probably come to the conclusion that Solution was a lady of the night and was accommodating her client by dressing up as a maid. Either that, or that Hiroshi was really rich.

Hiroshi wasn't even sure if he could find it in himself to look at Solution in that way- sure, she was his creation, but what did that mean exactly? How should the two of them behave towards each other?

Hiroshi had asked Solution and all she had said was, "The entire point of my existence is to serve my creator, Herohero-sama. I will do anything that you wish."

As such, that answered none of his questions.

The only real person he could turn to for support would be Suzuki.

He had even sent a message to Suzuki (or to be more accurate, he had had Solution send a **Message **to Suzuki) asking him if he'd like to go on a double date. Or well, it wasn't a date technically, but whatever- what he meant was that Suzuki could bring along his own created NPC and the four of them could stroll around the ninth floor.

As a matter of fact, Hiroshi didn't even know the name of the NPC which Suzuki had designed. He only knew about it because during one of the few sporadic times he had logged in during the past couple of months he had seen that the guild NPC levels had been depleted somewhat, and Suzuki had said then that he had made an NPC.

Suzuki however had declined while not stating a reason for this, and as such there wasn't much that Hiroshi could do about it.

"Can you, uh, drink?" Hiroshi asked as he pointed towards a bar. It was still noon, but he figured they could still drink lightly.

"Ah, I can drink," Solution said. "But I won't get drunk though."

Hiroshi realized it must be part of her racial abilities. Well, there was little reason to drink then.

"So, what would you like to do then?" Hiroshi asked.

"Absolutely anything done with you, my creator, Herohero-sama is fine with me," Solution said. "I'm just extremely happy to just be with you!"

Hiroshi sighed.

Truth be told, Solution was telling her own truth. She did as a matter of fact look rather gleeful with her face occasionally contorting beyond the realm of human possibility but Hiroshi was slowly getting used to it. She was clearly enjoying this- even if it was just aimlessly walking around.

This place had originally been for roleplaying as a place where the guild members could relax and unwind and as such was filled with shops, bars, and even an ice cream stall. He didn't even remember the ice cream stall- was that a recent addition? And who had put it there? Ack- no point in thinking about that now.

There were books on almost every subject- even books about relationships. Books on how to be a better parent, or a better teacher, books on how to make friends, and books on being a better boss.

Hiroshi would've normally scoffed at people who read those kinds of book before but now he could understand them. Understanding a new kind of relationship was hard.

Only there were no books about something like this. Or even an established social convention that Hiroshi could rely on while dealing with Solution. What was out of bounds between them? It was clear that their relationship was not one of equals- Solution had a slavish loyalty to him and as such he remembered the old quote that with great power came great responsibility. It followed from that line of thought that if he had more power he should also shoulder more responsibility between them.

From the way Solution behaved, and not just her, but the other NPCs as well- it seemed as if the two of them could never be equals. Or at least, Solution could never see herself as Hiroshi's equal.

Humanity had attempted many cloning attempts in the past- and there were tales of the horror of illegal genetic experiments that were performed on prisoners of war during World War 3 (or as some people liked to call it, World War: Tokyo Drift). However, true human cloning had not been successfully achieved. As such, the claim to have created life was an achievement that humanity could not yet boast to have done so. Even attempts at making better artificial intelligence had been only barely successful compared to what people of yesteryears must have hoped from the future.

And yet here the two were. Creation and created. Had Hiroshi been more educated, he might have thought of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam or Nietzsche's theories about the nature of man and god.

Instead, he could only think of Confucius's basic etiquettes- some which were drilled into all citizens. One of them was the nature of relationships.

Confucius said that there were four kinds of relationships: those between a ruler and subject, one between husband and wife, one between father and son, and lastly- and the only one in which the two people were equals, between two friends. Where did he and Solution fall into these categories?

Even if Solution was the manifestation of how he'd like a woman to look like- there was a bunch of problems if he tried to take their relationship down such a route. Others, such as Suzuki would almost certainly disapprove. How would an outside party think of such a thing? He couldn't help but feel like a pervert- yes, that is how someone would have viewed it if he tried to make a move on her.

"Ah, Herohero-sama, is something wrong?" Solution asked. Hiroshi had not spoken up for several minutes, and that obviously made Solution feel like she should speak up. "Have I upset you in some way?"

"No, no," Hiroshi said. After having been treated like trash in his job such treatment was refreshing at first but was increasingly becoming more and more awkward and unbearable. Couldn't she speak to him like a normal person?

Again, the only person who could maybe relate to him right now was Suzuki, but he was off doing something else. Well, him, and perhaps the other guild members wherever they were.

"Ah," Solution said, once again interrupting Hiroshi's train of thought. "If you were wondering what I'd enjoy doing, Herohero-sama, it would be to listen to stories about you. I would love to listen to what your life has been like up till now- it would greatly please me to know more of the glories that you have accomplished!"

Solution had realized that when her creator has asked her what she wanted to do and she didn't give an answer, he had become lost in thought. This made her think that such a statement had perhaps upset Herohero-sama in some way, and so she thought of something that she indeed would like.

"Oh," Hiroshi said. He really couldn't think of anything that would interest Solution. She had such a high opinion of him that explaining that he was a low level worker would probably confuse her- and there was the fact that he and Suzuki had agreed to keep such details under wraps for now. With that option gone, he decided to go with one of the stories from Yggdrasil.

He didn't know how much Solution knew, but he figured she wouldn't know this sort of story.

But it was odd for them to keep talking while standing or walking around like this, so he turned around and led Solution to the bar they had passed on their way. In doing so, he grabbed her hand was shocked at just how soft it felt. It felt as if his hand could actually sink into the skin- and as he remembered just what it was that Solution was he shuddered, recoiled, and withdrew his hand.

Inside was Sous-chef, and Hiroshi briefly did a double-take at his appearance. He had not see Sous-chef in the kitchens, and he vaguely remembered that on one specific day, the man would handle this bar here on the ninth floor. Who took care of it on other days then? Sadly, Hiroshi couldn't remember.

Sous-chef turned towards Hiroshi and Solution, and though he had no eyes which Hiroshi could make out, seemed to look at Hiroshi favorably. "Welcome, Herohero-sama. It is an honor to have one of the Supreme Beings in this bar." He then bowed deeply.

The bar was magnificent- Hiroshi had never been to such an establishment before and he doubted that one as extravagant as this could exist in real life. The only other occupant in the bar was Eclair Ecleir Eicler. He was a diminutive penguin butler and refreshingly, Hiroshi had to admit that he did look rather adorable. The butler hopped off of his stool and gave a deep bow.

"I too, bow deeply to Herohero-sama, one of the great Supreme Beings," he said and then gasped. "Ah, Herohero-sama, there seems to be some mud on your pants!"

Hiroshi looked down- right, some dirt must have gotten on them while he had been walking with Solution. And these were normal clothes and not the kind of Yggdrasil which were supposed to never get dirty. There wasn't a lot of dirt on them however, it was hardly something that Hiroshi would have been disturbed by in his normal life, but it seemed that Eclair Ecleir Eicler seemed to be bothered.

"No matter, I shall scrape it off!" Eclair Ecleir Eicler said and waddled over to Hiroshi's feet and began removing the dirt. Hiroshi had no idea how, but his pants were as good as new within a span of seconds. Cleaning spells, most likely, or a cleaning ability of some sort.

"Thank you, Eclair Eclier Eicler," Hiroshi said.

"I do not deserve such gratitude, for I only live to serve the Supreme Beings," Eclair Eclier Eicler said. "Howsoever, if you should wish to reward me- Herohero-sama, then you could help me take over the throne of Nazarick, so that I may one day rule over this Great Tomb!"

Eh? Hiroshi was confused until the realized that Ankoro Mocchi Mochi must have programmed that in as a joke. Solution looked at Eclair sternly, but seemed to have a look that said 'it can't be helped.'

Right, that might have been intended as a joke- but unfortunately for all of them all of their jokes meant for a video game had turned into reality. What if Eclair Eclier Eicler lead a rebellion against all of them one day?

"Oh! And if you don't mind me asking, what will you do once you are the ruler of Nazarick?" Hiroshi asked.

"Eh? Forgive me, but I do not understand your question," Eclair said. "All I know is that I must clean, and that one day, as a reward for cleaning, I will be made the supreme overlord of Nazarick!"

"Oh," Hiroshi realized, immediately piecing together that Eclair was in no way serious about staging a coup or something along those lines. There was no need to be worried about that. "Well then carry on."

"Please do not mind this one's blasphemies," Solution Epsilon said.

"Ah yes, welcome to you to, Solution-san," Sous-chef said. Hiroshi noticed that his demeanor was noticeably frostier while addressing Solution- perhaps that was because he considered her to be on the same rank as himself? "And what would bring you here today, Herohero-sama?"

"Oh, well, I created Solution and so I thought I'd spend some time with her," Hiroshi said.

Hiroshi had said this casually, but Eclair Ecleir Eicler's eyes widened and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Sous-chef was a mushroom and so did not have any facial expressions, but he similarly looked flabbergasted.

"To think, that one would have the honor of spending time with one's creator!" Eclair Ecleir Eicler said.

"Indeed, I truly envy you Solution-san!" Sous-chef said.

Hiroshi took a seat and motioned for Solution to sit next to him. "How could I possibly sit on the same level as you, Herohero-sama?" she asked, but Hiroshi sighed and told her to sit down.

Solution sat to his right, and Eclair Ecleir Eicler made to sit to Hiroshi's left. As Eclair was very short this was difficult and he ended up needing Hiroshi's help.

Hiroshi didn't mind holding the little penguin butler- it was like holding a small plush toy. Only thing was that Eclair fidgeted a lot and seemed to be embarrassed a little.

"And, so, what do you have to drink?" Hiroshi asked.

Sous-chef listed a number of drinks, none of which that Hiroshi recognized.

"Uh, how about the one named 'Nazarick?'" Hiroshi asked.

"Ah, no, pardon me Herohero-sam, but that drink is tasteless," Sous-chef said with a sad voice. "Long have I tried to make it into something worth of its name, but sadly I have failed up till now."

"Ah," Hiroshi said. He no longer had the heart in him to try something else. "Eh, could you maybe just get me a pitcher of lemonade for now?"

"Of course, my lord!" Sous-chef said and brought out a huge tankard filled with what Hiroshi guessed was lemonade.

He had to guess because the lemonade was blue.

_Eh? Is this normal- or was there some lore in Yggdrasil which said that all lemons were blue and so lemonade is blue here?_

Tentatively, Hiroshi took a glass and Sous-chef poured some of the drink for him. Hiroshi took a sip and was surprised. No doubt, this was just normal lemonade, but he had no clue why it was colored the way it was.

"Ah, right," Hiroshi said. "So as I was saying, Solution, I was going to recount to you how the guild Ainz Ooal Gown first conquered the Great Tomb of Nazarick!" Out of all of his adventures within Yggdrasil, this was the one which he remembered the most clearly.

"Ah!" Eclair Ecleir Eicler said. "Is it truly alright for ones such as ourselves to listen to such a tale?"

"Yes," Hiroshi said. "So anyway, at the beginning the guild Ainz Ooal Gown only had nine members. I, along with Suzu-I mean, Momonga, was one of them."

All three of them were staring at Hiroshi with faces which held expressions of wondrous rapture and wonderment. It honestly unnerved him a little and put a bit of performance anxiety on him.

"Nishikienrai was the one who had initially scouted the location of a dungeon," Hiroshi said. "By that time, Momonga was in control of the guild and not Touch Me."

"Eh?" Solution exclaimed. "Touch Me was once the leader of the Supreme Beings?"

"Well, he was clan head," Hiroshi said. "But when we organized into an official guild Momonga became the guild leader instead. So, we assessed the strength of the dungeon, and we had been planning to conquer it for a few weeks. It was suggested that anyone trying to conquer it should be more than level 80, but we weren't too confident of our numbers. As such, we divided ourselves into six teams to assault the dungeon once were inside."

"I don't recall much of what the other teams experienced," Hiroshi admitted. "But I was sent along with-"

He then paused as a voice suddenly popped up in his head. It was a **Message **spell.

"Hello! This is Suzuki. If you're resting, I apologize for disturbing you. But, if not, could you meet me in the Throne Room? This is something that I wish to discuss with you. Ah, it isn't that urgent and can wait a few hours, if you're wondering."

Suzuki might've said that, but Hiroshi's curiosity was piqued.

"Ah, sorry about that, but Momonga said that he wanted to discuss something," Hiroshi said. "Hey, Solution, you don't mind going over this later, do you?"

"Of course not, Herohero-sama," Solution said and bowed deeply. "To even hear the beginning of such a tale is a great reward."

The other two agreed and bowed.

Hiroshi glanced toward his ring and teleported outside of the Throne Room.

He pushed open the door to see that Suzuki was on the throne with Albedo at his side.

"Hello, Suzuki," Hiroshi said.

"Hello. I thought you might be sleeping- I didn't interrupt you did I?"

"Ah, no, I didn't actually rest, I went for a walk with Solution," Hiroshi said. "Didn't I send you a **Message **about that earlier."

"Ah yes," Suzuki said as the flames in his skull disappeared for a second. "I couldn't join you for some reason. I'm sorry about that."

It was a strange way of phrasing the sentence. Granted, Suzuki didn't have normal facial expressions in this current form, but Hiroshi could sort of figure out what Suzuki was feeling.

It was almost as if Suzuki was uncomfortable or embarrassed about something. But then again, what would he have to be embarrassed about? Was it his created NPC?

Given the fact that Hiroshi had made his NPC look like an H game character, and the fact that Shalltear existed, he had trouble believing that anyone else would be embarrassed at one of the NPCs that they had created. And even if they did make some questionable choices while designing the NPCs, the fact remained that Hiroshi was in no position to judge someone else.

"Ah- coming to the point which I was going to talk about," Suzuki said. "I think we've done enough experimentation and we can go ahead with perhaps trying to find more of the old guild members."

"Ah, oh yeah," Hiroshi said. He couldn't deny that it seemed like a good idea.

"And to do so, I ran another little experiment," Suzuki explained. "I went over to Nigredo's residence in the Frozen Prison, and she appears to be normal except for some- ah, strange settings that Tabula put in for some reason. Aside from that, her divination magic works as usual, but it was unable to find any of the other guild members."

"Ah," Hiroshi said. "Was that because none of the others were transformed into their game avatars like you were?"

"That's what I was thinking," Suzuki said. "But, given that she had never seen the others like you are, I thought perhaps she could locate her creator. And she did- she found Tabula Smaragdina."

Albedo's wings shuffled at the mention of her creator's name, but her expression was unmoved.

"Given that, we could either go to one of the guild members whose addresses I know," Suzuki said. "I know of a few of them, or we could go to Tabula first. I don't know if their old addresses might've changed with time, so at the very least we have a confirmed location with this."

"Ah, but there a whole lot of other things we can do right?" Hiroshi said. "If we can use divination magic, we could spy on the government or some other place to know what's been going on outside."

"Ah, yes," Suzuki said. "But we might trigger anti-divination traps- ah, we could always rely on the Mirror of Remote Viewing and see if it works."

"Ah, right," Hiroshi said. Though there were risks with this plan, it was a lot less risky than just going out like this.

The only reason the two of them hadn't thought of this earlier was because they had been preoccupied with other things, but it came so naturally now.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**Urm, I've realized just how many Supreme Beings/Guild Members there were. I mean, I've gone through the Overlord Wiki and I see details I've never noticed/heard of before. And given that right now, I've limited myself to only four guild members right now and it's taken a lot of space detailing just them. It occurs to me that I haven't focussed on Ainz that much right now, but I expect that to change, and I sort of wanted to focus on the others for now given that we do know so much about Momonga already, but don't worry- he will get his time in the spotlight.**

**Again, about Sous-chef, the wiki says he handles the bar on one day but never mentions what happens to it the other days. I'm assuming the bar is on the ninth floor, and the wiki confirms this but there's no separate page for the bar. Yeah, I'm relying on the wiki a lot but given the scope of this story I do kind of need help with that sort of stuff.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Well, I'm glad to know all of you are enjoying reading my writing. Another thing- I've noticed that some of you have been reading this in a different language.**

**Honestly it hasn't happened to me before, and I can't imagine what kind of program you guys are using to translate the story into your native tongues. Do you use Google Translate? I use it to read your reviews, but I can't imagine it being that accurate. Either way, I'm glad you've joined us.**

* * *

Suzuki was sitting in front of the Mirror of Remote Viewing. Hiroshi was sitting beside him, and Sebas was on guard in the room and stood against the war stoically.

It was rather hard to use the Mirror in real life, given that it seemed to work based on moving your hands and mental inputs rather than just pressing a button on the console as it worked back in Yggdrasil.

As it was though it seemed to work fine and gave a view of the region outside of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Suzuki rotated the view so they were instead seeing the Great Tomb from several miles up. As they peered down at the Tomb, they saw nothing but wasteland. It appeared that the illusions they had cast on the Great Tomb were working, at least, against a low-tier magic item such as this Mirror. He did not know whether it would fool human eyes- or rather, if it could fool devices such as cameras.

Suzuki then moved the Mirror in a circular fashion as it showed a view that slowly spiralled out from the Great Tomb of Nazarick as its center. It appeared that based on this view, there were no inhabitants within one hundred miles.

They must have been far out in the wastelands for that to happen. There were large areas of land which were too radioactive for people to venture to and had been abandoned.

The world population had peaked at approximately a little over ten billion people in the year 2043. Calamities and a general decline in birthrates the world over had decreased the population to a little under three billion people at the moment. It was only thanks to the reduced population and better technology that mankind could even survive in a world where large swathes of land had been rendered unsuitable for living creatures.

However, a barren wasteland was not what Suzuki was interested in. He was interested in looking for any signs of civilization.

His bird's eye view widened as everything on the ground narrowed as his view expanded. He was looking for light sources- something that would indicate a large town or city.

The nation of Japan currently consisted of a large number of arcologies- places where the megacorp executives lived in leisure surrounded by large towns where the common people eked out their meager existences. Entry into an arcology was difficult unless you were high up in status, and each arcology was controlled by a single megacorp.

All of these megacorps then technically operated in unison with each other, or, they were supposed to do so anyway. In reality, it was a form of government rather like feudalism with every single megacorp in charge of a slice of the country.

Of course, if ever they were challenged, they would all come together. One of the most recurrent and looming threats was that the Chinese Arcologies would band together and invade Japan, something that had been close to happening in the years of the World War 3. Relations between China and Japan had not warmed up even the slightest over the past centuries. Bitter memories of World War 2 still stained the collective Chinese consciousness.

However, an invasion had never occurred. Part of the reason was that China was one of the countries most hard hit by the sudden environmental crisis- after all, with a large population it was unable to keep itself fed. To further complicate matters a pro-democratic movement had emerged and then the country collapsed into two factions which vied for control. This bitter civil war lasted twenty years and by the time it was over, much of the progress the country had made in the early twenty-first century was lost.

Another reason was that the American Arcologies still supported Japan even up till this day- mainly because of course, the organization had feared the rise of the Chinese, and also because they had a substantial presence within Japan. The American Arcologies were in better shape than the majority of the rest of the world, mainly because just like with the first and second World Wars, they had waited several years before joining the fray of World War 3. As such, far more of their land had been spared from the effects of nuclear fallout when compared to Europe or China. While the country no longer had much of the far-reaching influence that it once had, it was still arguably the largest and most powerful military force in the world.

As a matter of fact, there was currently no other country which had taken the mantle that the country referred to earlier as the United States of America had once had in terms of dominating the world stage. It did not seem that a power like that would ever emerge in the current political climate, for that matter.

Arcologies were usually named after the cities that had once stood at the places they controlled. The cities still existed of course, if only one paper, but in practical terms only the location was the same and a few historic buildings. The Kyoto Arcology was controlled by the Google Megacorp, or so Suzuki Satoru had heard.

As for the Tokyo Arcology, which was where he along with quite a few of the other members of Ainz Ooal Gown resided, it was controlled by the Sony Megacorp. One of its many subsidiaries was the company that had designed and developed Yggdrasil itself.

In addition to light sources, Suzuki was also looking for water- if present, it would show that they might still be on one of the islands of Japan. But there was no reason for that to be necessarily true though and as he continued to wander around and twenty minutes passed he gave up. It looked like they were in a strange corner of the world.

In the game of Yggdrasil, one could easily jump to another location so long as one had it registered. One would have to choose it from a list, but it appeared in real life all that Suzuki had to do was think of the location outside of his apartment and the mirror jumped to it.

He adjusted the view so he now had a bird's eyes view of the city of Tokyo, or the place which had once been the city of Tokyo at least. It may have been his home, but he felt little love for the place.

The streets were nearly empty- as expected of a quarantine. He allowed himself to wander around aimlessly until he saw some activity. Several very large armored trucks.

"Is that really the Kenpeitai?" Hiroshi asked.

The vehicles matched the official description, though, again, the description was just based off of urban legends so Suzuki didn't know.

They were dragging several screaming people out of a building. It looked as if Suzuki had caught them in the middle of some sort of a raid.

There were flashes of gunfire as he saw that some people had been shot.

Perturbed, Suzuki took out a scroll. It was spell that would modify the mirror so that it could see indoors.

What he saw inside chilled Hiroshi to the bone. There was a child, barely six years old, bleeding out on the floor. A woman, most likely her mother, was sobbing right next to her. Several armed men were trying to pry her away, but she was screaming and kicking hysterically.

This went on for a minute before one of the men took out a pistol and shot her in the head.

Matter could not travel through the Mirror, but the way the view was oriented it looked as if her grey matter had flown right toward them. Suzuki even flinched, while Hiroshi emptied his stomach onto the floor.

It honestly worried Suzuki slightly that he could watch something like this so calmly. He should've been, just like Hiroshi was beside him, severely sickened by this display. He might've even fainted.

Sebas rushed over to Hiroshi's side and used an ability that healed with Ki. This didn't seem to work, and so Suzuki took out a scroll and used the spell **Lion's Heart** on Hiroshi.

That seemed to calm Hiroshi down.

"Are you feeling alright now?" Suzuki asked.

"Yeah, much better," Hiroshi said.

"My Lord," Sebas said, his earlier face of concern now replaced by one of rage. "Shall we ready ourselves to counter these assailants?"

"Eh?" Suzuki said for a moment before he realized what Sebas was implying. "Ah, no."

Hiroshi stared back and forth between Sebas and Suzuki. "Um, why can't we try to help, Suzuki-san?"

"Ah, there are many things," Suzuki said. "For one, we do not know our own combat strength fully yet. Even if we did, I have no idea how effective it would be against foes who use modern weaponry such as that. Furthermore, these people did violate some sort of orders, no? I mean, they wouldn't be attacked otherwise."

"They killed a young kid," Hiroshi said meekly.

That in itself was strange. Even if Hiroshi understood what Suzuki was saying- namely that this action might well have been justified, what could justify shooting a child?

"Even if we go in there and rescue them," Suzuki said. "What will we do about those people? Some other authority would come and round them up eventually. And we would make ourselves enemies of this nation."

"Hide them in Nazarick," Hiroshi said. "I mean, we have enough space for now. And plus, don't you think that this could be related to whatever's been going on here? I don't think there's an actual disease going around. It's too much of a coincidence that this happened today."

Suzuki then glanced at Hiroshi and turned to look at Sebas. No, he wasn't looking at Sebas, but it seemed as if he was looking at someone standing behind Sebas, even though there was no one there.

"Alright then," Suzuki said. "I will go and rescue what is left of these people."

"Great!" Hiroshi said and was excited as well.

"Allow me to be your bodyguard, Momonga-sama," Sebas said. "And I implore of you, Herohero-sama, to please remain within the Great Tomb of Nazarick."

"Ah, no," Suzuki said. "I want you, Sebas, to tell Albedo to meet us up instead. In the meanwhile, set Nazarick's security level to high."

"And for that matter," Hiroshi said. "I'll be going with you."

"My liege Herohero-sama, I must protest," Sebas said. He had an innate ability that let him know the extent of another person's ability. And thus he knew how weak Herohero-sama was the moment he looked at him.

"I must as well, Hiroshi," Suzuki said. "While it may be possible that with my abilities I would survive a shooting, I doubt you would."

"I can, with the right equipment though," Hiroshi said and had a knowing smile on his face. "Or did you forget about the Powered Suit?"

Suzuki, for a second, had no clue as to what Hiroshi was saying until he remembered something. "Ah yes- the Powered Suits!"

A few years ago, when Yggdrasil had begun hemorrhaging players the devs had thought to come up with a way to bring new players on board.

The thing about games such as Yggdrasil was that as time went on and more and more time-exclusive events occurred, older players would begin to accumulate more and more powerful artifacts and weapons. As such, after some time, the gap between a newbie and seasoned veteran would widen to the extent that no matter how hard a new player tried, if he had joined the game later on, he would have no realistic chance to make it to where the seasoned veteran was.

Come to think of it, many organizations had a similar problem. It was very common to promote people according to seniority, and as such, in many large organizations the upper levels would be filled with old geezers and so a talented new hire would have little chance of climbing the ranks. Many companies in Japan still followed this model, outdated as it was.

There was no real easy fix for such a problem- if the devs went ahead and started giving out older prizes freely the old players would complain that there was no benefit to playing the game so long, much as senior level executives would protest to a new hire being elevated to a high position.

As such, one thing that the devs could do was make it easier for a new player to climb the initial ranks.

Another factor was that at the time, games based on mecha were popular. Old anime involving mechas such as Neon Genesis: Evangelion and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion had been remastered with modern technology and as such both mecha games and anime had been in high demand.

These two factors were what probably contributed to the addition of the Powered Suits to Yggdrasil.

They were suits of armor that resembled mechas in appearance, and various parts of them could be equipped with spells. However, they could only store spells up to the tenth tier and there was a time limit on their use. In addition, one could also equip items such as rings, necklaces, etc. as well as swords and lances. The only problem was that one could not wear another set of armor on top of it, as such someone like Coccytus could not use this armor as he already had a natural suit of armor which could not be removed.

Also, the armor had the stats equivalent to a player who was combat oriented and level eighty but could not be upgraded further. There was also the fact that in order to unlock the suit's capabilities, you would have to grind to unlock fifty percent of them. The other fifty percent were microtransaction exclusives.

The Powered Suits had a lukewarm response. Some people on the forums complained of course, about how new players could suddenly level up so fast and that this wasn't fair. Suzuki and his friends mainly didn't mind at all- to anyone who was above the level seventy-five the suit was next to useless. Perhaps players who had builds which were geared towards manufacturing, such as merchants, might find some use for it, but even then if you were level one hundred you were better off with practically any other build.

The main thing that bothered Suzuki at the time was that he could not use his own spells while wearing the suit, and the suit could not even store three hundred spells. As such he had had no interest in the item at the time. As for the players on the forums complaining, he had nothing for them but a shrug. It had taken six months for him to reach level eighty, and that was mainly because he kept getting PK'd at various points of time. You could do so in only three days with a Powered Suit though. But, he had spent what was for him, a fortune trying to get his ring, Wish Upon A Star, while Yamaiko had gotten it in one purchase, so all he could really say was that life, whether in real life or a video game, was never fair.

Nonetheless, several people within the guild had bought them at the time, mainly if just to try them out as a gimmick. There were probably three or four sets within the Treasury.

While wearing such a suit, even someone such as Hiroshi could easily defeat any of the Pleiades. Theoretically, that is, of course.

Because while he would have the defensive, offensive, and evasive stats of a level eighty player he would still have his normal health, and to cast spells would still consume mana from the user's own mana bar. Given that Hiroshi currently had no mana bar, he would be unable to use any of the spells unless he used a scroll or some other item.

As such, someone such as Narberal Gamma could also theoretically kite Hiroshi in the armor from a distance, and end up defeating him like that.

However, when it came to the matter of deflecting bullets, which Suzuki was sure even a Death Knight could do, the armor could still probably work to protect Hiroshi. The way armor worked in Yggdrasil was that it did reduce damage, of course, but if an attack was too weak the user would end up taking no damage. Furthermore, Hiroshi could always use it to fly away. If Hiroshi were equipped with various magic items on top of the armor, he would probably survive a battle with humans, given that the humans did not know any special abilities that Suzuki was aware of.

That was of course, assuming that the rest of the world did not have any abilities from Yggdrasil. Which Suzuki could not rule out. If this were a game, Suzuki would have no problem letting his friends tag along for a mission- on the contrary, he would be ecstatic at the prospect. But this was a different world where apparently different rules applied.

"Even so, it would be too dangerous," Suzuki said.

"If that's the case, why are you going yourself then?" Hiroshi countered.

Ah, well, that was because Suzuki thought there was information he could only get if he got it firsthand. However, by that logic, Hiroshi was not wrong in trying to tag along.

Also, there was the fact that Suzuki thought that he had no real authority to refuse Hiroshi. After all, this guild had been made by all of them. He may have been guild leader, but that was not a dictatorial position but rather a democratic one. As such, even if they went for a vote now, it would just end in a tie. Given that, and the fact that he was meeting Hiroshi after such a long time he couldn't gather the courage to say 'no' to him.

"I guess there's no helping it then," Suzuki said.

"Alright then, let's head on towards the Treasury!" Hiroshi said.

"Ah, well- there's no need for both of us to go to the Treasury," Suzuki said hastily.

Hiroshi sighed. "Is this because you don't want me to see the NPC you made? Are you really that embarrassed by it?"

Suzuki's skeletal jaw hung open. Suzuki thought that he was pretty adept at hiding his emotions, but apparently they had leaked through to Hiroshi.

"You know, I don't see why you would be embarrassed," Hiroshi said. "I mean, compared to what other people made..." He then leaned closer to Suzuki. "It isn't something really lewd is it?"

"What? Eh? No," Suzuki replied. "It's just that, let's just say that I too, had a Chunibyo phase."

Ah yes, Chunibyo or Eighth-Grade Syndrome, as it was called. A condition wherein the person imagined himself to have special powers. As a member of Ainz Ooal Gown, Hiroshi was no stranger to the disorder, given the many people within the Tomb that had it.

"Oh well," Hiroshi said.

"Just promise not to laugh," Suzuki answered.

"I promise," Hiroshi said.

* * *

Hiroshi might have promised not to laugh, but he had a hard time keeping it in. His face had become slightly purple as he surpressed the urge to at the very least, chuckle.

This NPC called Pandora's Actor was, in a way, pretty impressive. Hiroshi had to admit that the lore and everything that went into its creation did fit. It was a fitting guardian of the treasury, and he was honestly impressed just how well Suzuki had crafted this NPC to fit Nazarick's defensive systems.

Of course, Pandora's Actor's behavior was rather cringeworthy.

"Ah-ha, welcome, Herohero-sama!" Pandora's Actor said while doing a pirouette.

The normal toxic cloud that was present in the Treasury had been turned off by Suzuki when he had gone to fetch the lamp earlier as he anticipated that perhaps Hiroshi might have to drop by at some point.

"We are here for the Powered Suits," Suzuki said.

"Powered Suits!?" Pandora's Actor exclaimed with widened eyes- or eye holes, or whatever those were on his face. "To think, that the powers of the mechanical instruments of the Supreme Beigss is to finally be unleashed upon this Earth! Wh-"

"Yes, yes, I need you to please hurry up a little," Suzuki said, interrupting Pandora's Actor's monologue by putting his hand over Pandora's Actor's 'mouth hole.' "We are on a rather time-dependent mission here."

Hiroshi left the Treasury while wearing a Powered Suit. It was black and the helmet was shaped like that of a hawk's head. A silver cape fluttered from it- this was a magic item and not just an accessory for show.

The reason they had picked this set of armor was because it was already equipped with all the microtransaction abilities available unlike the others.

Suzuki had initially felt a little bit of guilt at taking the armor- technically everything in the Treasury was the property of his friends, and though they had left it all for him, they technically were all going to come back now. After all, they were back in the real world. But, he was sure that they would understand.

In addition to the Powered Suit, Hiroshi had several magic items equipped. Some of them were cash shop items which would negate attacks completely once, while others were items that reduced the power of projectiles. Suzuki had even given Hiroshi one of his rings- it was an item that offered immediate resurrection but it had only one use.

With his current panoply of items, Suzuki thought that Hiroshi could probably even defeat one of Demiurge's Evil Lords.

No, he realized, as he remembered that an Evil Lord could summon another Evil Lord, essentially making a battle a two versus one. However, he was definitely stronger than any of the Pleiades.

"Let's go then," Suzuki said as he cast the **Gate **spell.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Hiroshi asked.

"Ah, Albedo can join us when she's ready with her preparations," Suzuki said.

"No, I mean, don't you think you should maybe hide your face?" Hiroshi asked.

Suzuki considered the matter for a moment- if later on, word of their involvement got out, it would be bad if their identities could be traced back to them. If he was stuck in this form, it might be good to wear a sort of disguise.

For now, Suzuki realized, it would be better to put on a mask.

"Oh, that item," Hiroshi muttered as he recognized the Mask of Envy which had been given out as a twisted joke by the devs on Christmas Eve. Essentially, the devs were making fun of people for being alone on Christmas Eve.

Seriously, Hiroshi might have loved Yggdrasil but even he had to admit that the game was broken in many ways. Overpowered classes and abilities, literal racism against certain characters, cash shop items, and even dark jokes like the Mask of Envy really did give the 'shitty devs' the 'shitty' name they oh-so deserved to get from the players. Then again, if one wanted entertainment, there was little else that one could do. There was a literal monopoly on that as well. Perhaps in an earlier time, such a joke would be met with massive backlash and the devs would have backtracked, but nothing of the sort had happened then.

But, regardless of the negative feelings both of them had towards the Mask, it did hide Suzuki's skeletal face.

"Ah, and another thing," Suzuki said. "Let's try not to kill anyone, alright?"

If they assaulted the Kenpeitai they would no doubt become enemies of the Japanese government, but as long as they didn't kill anyone their chances of reconciliation would be quite higher than if they had left a trail of dead bodies in their wake.

That was why Hiroshi, rather than holding a magical gun as was the Powered Suit's favored weapon, was holding a strange stick with a talon attached to it. This item known as the False Swipe Talon was a rather weak weapon, but it had the effect of always leaving the enemy at the minimum of one health point no matter how strong the user using it was. If it worked the same way within the real world, it would mean that Hiroshi would not kill anyone.

Still, Hiroshi did have the original gun strapped to his back. It was awkward to carry it around like that, but he didn't have access to an inventory like Suzuki did.

And with their preparations reasonably complete, both of them stepped through the magical portal.

* * *

As a member of the Kenpeitai one was rather used to a certain- _oddness_, so to speak, in one's work.

Even then, the Second Lieutenant had been sure he had seen it all in his many years of service.

That was, until today.

The only thing that he and his subordinates had been explained was that suddenly, for no discernible reason, people all over Japan had suddenly gained magical powers. As far as they knew, it was also happening in other countries all over the world.

That was it. There was no further explanation or reasoning given to them. If their superiors were lying to them and did as a matter of fact know something beyond that, they were doing a hell of a convincing job of it.

The Second Lieutenant had not believed it until he had seen a prisoner demonstrate the ability to heal wounds.

Their team had spent all of the morning hunting down various groups suspected of having magical powers.

Given that the balance of the world had been so suddenly changed with people randomly getting supernatural powers, it was only obvious that their corporate overlords were scratching their heads wondering what to do. Their immediate knee-jerk reaction was to shut everything down, evaluate the situation, and then decide on an appropriate course of action.

As such, they made up a story about an illness spreading, and their current objective was to keep things on the low any way they had to.

They really didn't have to put with much resistance from most people- until now.

Here, in this building, where they had reports of supernatural activity going on and were in the process of arresting them all for interrogation, a man had panicked and shot a fireball at one of his men.

That man would probably need an ICU bed for several weeks, assuming he would live. Naturally this had enraged them to the point where the man responsible was shot.

The Second Lieutenant could live with that.

But the girl...

While walking she had trembled and looked scared and with no provocation, had summoned some weird monster beside her. One of his men had immediately replied by shooting her.

Many might say it was an overreaction- but to be fair, even a child which had supernatural abilities like they had seen was more dangerous than a gun-wielding adult.

Still, the whole spectacle left a bad taste in his mouth.

And that wasn't even the whole story.

Just as he was getting over that, a large man appeared before them out of nowhere.

"Not again," he muttered. He glanced over at the still cowering civilians who were pressed against the wall. "Whichever one of you morons summoned this thing, you have three seconds to get rid of it, else I'm shooting all of you."

The man- or thing, was dressed in an ornate black robe and stood at least twelve feet tall. The Second Lieutenant could not see its face as it was covered by a mask. There was a shimmering wall of light that shone behind it, from which stepped out another creature.

This one was dressed in black armor which was way too flashy to be of any practical use, at least in his opinion. It even had a cape- a freaking cape for some reason! The armor also had a strange glow to it and some ornaments which really clashed with its overall design.

Before he could process these developments the man in a black robe raised a single gloved hand and spoke, "**Aura of Despair- Level 1!**"

A wave of wind washed over the Second Lieutenant and his men. No, to call it a wave of wind was inaccurate. The air remained still, but a wave of _something_ washed over him and his men.

Instantly, he fell down.

It was not unusual for human beings to have bowl and/or bladder evacuations when faced with stressful circumstances. It had happened to several of his men on occasion, but such facts were usually omitted from the reports and no one really talked about it. It was just a fact of highly stressful combat. Both things, however, had happened to him instantly.

Every bit of reason he had once had was stripped away, laying bare naked a primal urge that existed in all living creatures- survive. And that was all he wanted to do. His mind had been completely clouded by fear.

He found himself unable to get up and run, or to even point his gun at the man who had done this to him. As a matter of fact, he could not summon the courage of even thinking any further thoughts of defiance against this man.

The man in armor pressed an amulet around his neck and said, "**Sleep**!" and the Second Lieutenant heard the thuds of his men hitting the floor.

Immediately of course, this caused several of his soldiers to rush into the building, but they were all taken care of by the black robed man's strange power.

As the portal of light behind them was about to fade away, a third person stepped out.

She was covered from head to toe in dark violet armor and horns protruded from her helmet. In normal circumstances, he would have thought that she was extremely attractive based on her figure alone, but this was not a normal circumstance. Her wings for some reason seemed to protrude from her hips rather than her back like he would have normally thought it should have been.

"Ah, excellent that you're here, Albedo," Suzuki said.

"Pardon me for my delay, Momonga-sama," Albedo said as she surveyed the room. Out of nowhere, she produced a large black axe. "Shall I dispose of these maggots, or would you prefer to crush them yourself."

"Ah, no, Albedo, we are here to ah, rescue these people," Momonga replied. "As such, I want to move them towards the Sixth Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick for now."

Momonga turned to the civilians who were now even more scared than they had been earlier. "Do not fear, ah, civilians. My name is Momonga, and I am the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. I heard of your plight." He moved his hand to point towards the dead girl and her mother. "And therefore I have come to rescue you from this tyranny."

There was stunned silence.

"Albedo," Momonga said. "Send the Hanzos around the area. These people have recording devices which you need to find and destroy."

The woman named Albedo bowed her head to show that she had understood. The man had a strange voice- it was as cold and emotionless as the arctic wind and yet was full of an air of command.

Momonga once again turned to the civilians. "I understand that some of you may be hesitant to follow me, but I will tell you that if you continue to remain here- it will result in your deaths. Your government cannot possibly allow you to wander around speaking of the atrocities of your secret service. You will most likely be killed if you stay here to keep you all quiet. The only place you will be safe is with me, within the confines of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. As its ruler, I guarantee that no harm will come to you."

Momonga then took a look at the fallen Kenpeitai. "As for them, take them for interrogation."

Albedo rubbed her hands with what seemed like glee. 'Ah yes- Neuronist should be happy to have some new visitors."

"Ah, no," the unnamed man in the strange armor said. "Don't send them to Neuronist, just use normal **Charm **and **Dominate **spells, that should be enough to get what we need."

"Ah yes," Momonga said. "Do ensure that they suffer no harm through the ah, interrogation process."

"There's no need for that!" the Second Lieutenant shouted. He hadn't meant to scream, but up till now he had kept quiet and the words had suddenly come through. "Ah, Momonga-san, I will tell you whatever you want! Whatever you need to know! Just spare my life please!" Any training he had underwent was thrown out the window, and all he knew was that he could not displease this man standing before him. If he did- his body shuddered as he did not want to think about it. Some of his subordinates made cries of shock, but he ignored them.

The woman named Albedo raised her axe and moved it to his throat in response. "Say it with me now, worm- Momonga-_sama_. Do not dare consider him your equal."

"Ah yes, of course, Albedo-sama," he replied. "As I said, I will be happy to give you any and all information you may require."

"Good, good," Momonga said. 'And there should be people in the trucks outside- bring them out too. Release them and store them along with the civilians on the Sixth Floor."

He then cast a gaze at the roof. "Reinforcements will no doubt come to this place. We should get moving quickly."

* * *

Pestonya Shortcake Wanko put on her brightest smile and bowed her head. "Welcome, guests of the Great Tomb of Nazarick! My name is Pestonya Shortcake Wanko, and my lords Momonga-sama and Herohero-sama have decreed that I be in charge of your welfare and upkeep."

The approximately eighty humans standing in front of her looked at her with apprehensive eyes. How odd. She had read and heard from various sources that humans in general were creatures which enjoyed the company of dogs, which her face looked like. Come to think of it, some of the younger children looked at her with gazes that possessed more curiosity than fear.

She was currently on the Sixth Floor of Nazarick and had been tasked by Momonga-sama to create a place where these humans could live temporarily, and she was charged with procuring their food and drink as well. Aura had cleared an area near the lake and told her beasts not to wander too close to the settlement.

As far as Pestonya knew, the prisoners they had taken had been taken to the Frozen Prison, but they were being watched over by Nigredo. While she would not be especially endeared towards adult humans, she would not be overly hostile to them either. It was far better to be under Nigredo's care rather than Neuronist's- the other resident of the Frozen Prison, after all.

Pestonya actually didn't understand why many of her fellow servants of the Great Tomb hated humans and weaker life forms so much. The only ones she felt she could truly confide in that regard were Nigredo and Sebas, though of course the 'neutral' NPCs of Nazarick such as Aura and Mare were also her confidants on occasion.

"You all seem to be a little apprehensive," she continued. She could smell the sweat coming from them that signaled their fear. In addition, one of her abilities as a healer allowed her to sense damage and disease, and she could immediately tell that many of them had lung damage of varying degrees. "But rest assured that I- WOOF!"

She shouted in surprise as a Hanzo suddenly stepped out of the shadows next to her. The Hanzos were definitely skilled given that they could sneak up on someone like her who had excellent hearing and smell. "Please do not surprise me like that, Hanzo-san."

"I beg your pardon, Pestonya-san," the Hanzo replied as several of its comrades came into view. They were carrying stretchers with human corpses on them. "Momonga-sama has sent orders that you are to try to resurrect these humans." He handed her a bag filled with gold. "The necessary payment- though Momonga-sama will gladly provide more if required."

"Understood. Woof!" she said. She had to admit it was heartwarming to know that her masters, the Supreme Being, had such tenderness in their hearts so as to spend the treasures of the Great Tomb of Nazarick to help these poor creatures. But that did make her wonder why, if that was the case, they had made such creatures such as Demiurge who- NO! She shook her head, whatever the Supreme Beings had created was sacrosanct, and she had no right to challenge or question them. After all, no one would even challenge Eclair's thoughts on conquering Nazarick.

Speaking of the Supreme Beings, word on them had spread like wildfire through Nazarick. Thanks to the **Message **spell, as it was, news could spread rather fast, but of course information on the Supreme Beings spread the fastest as people loved talking about them. She had heard that her fellow creation, Eclair, had gotten to hear a story from Herohero-sama firsthand. She had even heard that Herohero-sama was currently in human form. Was that why such love was being showered on these humans? She had even heard that those two referred to each other by different names rather than the ones they were familiar with.

"I will see if they can be resurructed and send a report to Momonga-sama," she replied, happy to get a chance to visit the Surpreme Beings in person.

"Acknowledged," the Hanso said and disappeared into the shadows.

"Now," Pestonya said, indicating with a hand the houses that had been hastily constructed. "The workmanship is a bit ah, lacking- but do not worry for with time, it may be improved."

Her guests still said nothing until one man seemed to muster all of his courage and asked, "Excuse me, if I may ask, but what are you?"

"Hmm? I am Pestonya Shortcake Wanko," she replied.

"No, not a name- I mean, w-why-why do you have a dog's head for a head?" he asked.

"Ah, that is because my creator, Ankoro Mocchi Mochi willed it to be so," she said. "You see, I am not a human, but rather a Homunculus, which takes human form. Any further questions?"

"Where are we?" he asked.

"As I have said before, you are currently in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, the most wonderful place in the world," she replied while gesturing with her hands.

"Uh, okay," the man said, but judging from his facial expression that was probably not what he had wanted to hear as a response.

* * *

Hachiman stumbled back into his apartment as one of his summoned monsters used **Greater Teleportation**. It had been a somewhat productive day, but now he was hungry. One could not be an evil overlord- or pretend to be one anyway, on an empty stomach. And his monsters could make food with magic- but it tasted so bad he wanted to vomit it out instantly. In Yggdrasil it wasn't really possible to make better foods unless you had a class in Cook, Chef, or something on those lines, and it didn't seem as if any of the multitude of demons he could summon had classes such as that. Come to think of it, most likely no demons in Yggdrasil had classes in Cook or Chef, unless they had been custom made by players.

As such, wanting to eat lunch in peace, he was back in his apartment and prepared a quick meal of instant ramen. It was something that he had grown used to eating for every single meal recently, and though it would harm his health in the long run, there was little to discourage him when he knew that the environment and work environment he lived in would kill him far faster.

Or at least, it would have. Now, he had the power to fight back. Not only with his information, but with this World Item he had.

After dealing with Mr. Yamamoto, he had gone through a list of other suspects. Some of them worked in law enforcement, and as far as he got out of them, since midnight today, people all over the world had gained strange powers.

So he was not alone. He smiled to himself. Such a change was a game-changer, one that would no doubt lead to the toppling of the existing corrupt social order. Good. Good.

However, that really didn't explain anything. Why hadn't he gotten strange powers? And why had this World Item fell into his lap of all people? It made sense then that other World Items should have also appeared all over the world, but he had heard of nothing. Then again, it was possible that the authorities were covering it up.

He also considered the fact that maybe, over time, he had just gotten insane and nothing in the past few hours had actually happened outside of his head.

Well, he would try his best not to think about that.

His summoned demons, of course, did not need to eat, but Hachiman felt compelled to ask anyway. Both of them refused.

As for information regarding Bellriver, he had gotten to know that Bellriver had indeed been killed because he had figured out that a group of eight men in the company he had worked for had died under mysterious circumstances. The official story was that they had all been killed in a bus accident, but Bellriver had discovered that that was a lie.

So what was the truth then?

Hachiman still didn't know.

Perhaps he would try to ask Bellriver himself, he thought as he contemplated using resurrection magic again. Oh, no, he would not go down that route yet.

For now, he still had some names on his hit list.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**Okay, to start off with, the Powered Suits mentioned in this fanfic are not outside of canon. They've technically been mentioned, but we haven't gotten an official English name for them yet, so it's possible they might be renamed later on. Oh well, that's a risk I'll take. As they haven't been translated yet I sort of gave a full on expository explanation of how they worked in case people haven't read the latest volume.**

**As it is, I'm not really sure if I'll follow all of Maruyama's ideas about the New World. Yes, I've read the little bit about air resistance and honestly it doesn't make sense to me either- why would a world have no air resistance? Is there no air? **

**Also, yeah, a lot of stuff that I do base this on is from the Web Novels, which I guess is really subject to change. For example, apparently Momonga could make those small red potions in the original Web Novel and sold them for a handy profit. He can't do that now though. So yeah, I guess we can't always be accurate.**

**If you didn't notice the little rescue was supposed to mirror the original rescue of Carne village, but of course things went far smoother here, mainly because there was no Sunlight Scripture to stop Suzuki. Yeah, not much of a challenge there.**

**Also- an interesting thing I found out from the wiki. Apparently you shouldn't be able to see Nazarick from the sky- or at least they couldn't when they first found it. But in the very first episode you can clearly see the Great Tomb even when Momonga and Demiurge are flying, so either that was only true when it was a dungeon or I'm missing something. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay, to answer some of your questions...**

**First off, regarding the fact that you can't see Nazarick from the sky, I can think of two possibilities. Either Ainz can see through the illusion courtesy of being an undead, or he can see through it kudos of the fact that he is part of the guild. That or the anime doesn't animate it properly. **

**As for the fact of keeping things canon, yes, I admit that I'll need to change things. I just sort of want to keep the laws of Overlord as they are well, as they actually are as much as possible. I don't like changing in-universe mechanics that much, or altering certain character's personalities beyond what they were initially unless there's a good reason for them to change.**

**As for the Powered Suits, yeah, Power Suits does make much more grammatical sense. Powered Suits is just a fan translation, after all, and I don't know what the official term will be.**

**For the person asking why Pestonya got gold and gems, it is because for higher tier resurrection spells in Yggdrasil those were necessary to cast the spell. At least according to the wiki**

* * *

The Prime Minister of Japan sighed as the visitor entered his office.

Indeed, while the National Diet and the other trappings of democracy such as himself still existed on paper the fact was that it was Japan's corporate interests who really ran the show.

None of this was new for the nation of Japan, of course. Even in old times, it was the Shogun, the chief military official of the country who ran the actual operations of the nation who actually controlled political matters for the longest time. The Emperor was simply a figurehead. Japanese corporations had been similar as well, with the CEO usually not being the one who actually ran the company.

His only real job was to rubber stamp decisions that the corporations had already approved.

Some might say that even in the old days corporations and wealthy businessman had been far from silent when it came to politics. But even then, they had only been one of the loudest voices rather than being the only voice.

No- actually, to say that his only real job was to sign off on decisions was incorrect. The Prime Minister did have a job- the same as that of a CEO of the old Japanese corporations, namely, to take blame when it came time to take blame and resign his post.

There might have been a time when the Prime Minister would have, in his younger, more idealistic days, dreamed of a large crisis coming to the country. After all, the greatest leaders- the ones who were remembered by time, were those who led their nations through times of crisis. Of course, now that he actually had the job he had been vying for his whole life, he knew the only thing he would probably get to do was apologize on television and then resign only for the next idiot to take his chair and for the cycle to repeat itself.

Now that a crisis had actually come, he was now desperately wishing that he could've been a run of the mill Prime Minister who would leave his office having done particularly nothing of note.

The visitor was the Shosho or the Major General of the Kenpeitai, the department which the corporations had deemed sufficient to handle this new crisis.

And what a crisis it was.

"Good evening, Sir," the Shosho said and made a polite bow before asking to sit down. Once the Prime Minister had granted him permission to sit, the Shosho began to dive into business immediately.

"We have word from the Americans," the Shosho said. "They too, have been experiencing these strange spikes of people gaining supernatural powers. As for the Chinese and the Russians, we have no word from them yet, but our intelligence agents say that they too, have been affected even though they are remaining silent. The 2nd and 3rd European Arcologies are still at war, and as such getting any information out of them is difficult." He then pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. Paper was a lot easier to get rid of than data which always left a trail.

The Prime Minister glanced over the sheet of paper which was a list of words written in English.

_Fireball  
__Create Water  
__Charm Person  
__Silence  
Compass  
Acid Arrow  
Summon Demon 2nd Tier  
Summon Demon 1st Tier  
Summon Demon 3rd Tier  
Heavy Recover  
Mass Middle Cure Wounds_

He then frowned. "Are these spells from Dungeons & Dragons?"

"Ah, that's what we thought too," the Shosho said. "We have managed to conduct, ah, certain experiments, regarding those with these strange magical powers. The way it works is that the person in question must invoke the name of a spell by chanting its name first, and these are a list of spells we have managed to extract from the prisoners."

The Prime Minister shuddered at the casual use of the word 'prisoners' given that the man was referring to people of his own country who had done no wrong. It was deeply unsettling, but given the Kenpeitai's history there was probably no one more suited to the task of rounding up their own citizens than them.

"For some reason, all spells are named in English," the Shosho said. That was a common theme in current Japanese games and media, but it was still odd to note. Other media usually used Latin or Greek languages to base their spells off of. "None of the prisoners seem to know why they can cast these spells, just that they somehow instinctively know how to use them and what they do. There also seems to be a sort of 'mana' for lack of a better term which is consumed when spells are used. Those who were awake at midnight pinpoint the burst of light as the time when these powers arose."

The Prime Minister nodded. This was like something out of a comic book- no, rather, something out of a video game to be more accurate. "And who is responsible for this burst of light?" The Prime Minister had been awake when it had happened as well, and though it had not harmed him it had not granted him supernatural powers either.

"We do not know," the Shosho said. "The obvious candidates are the Chinese or Russians, mainly because everyone blames everything on them, but we can't rule out the Americans or Europeans either."

"And do these spells work the same way in foreign countries?" the Prime Minister asked. "Or do they chant German or even Japanese words for spells in America?"

"Unclear, as of now," the Shosho said. "But it seems that the Americans are having far more trouble controlling their population than we are. There have been nationwide protests over there against an attempted lockdown. But, there is something else that happened which seems to be suspicious. Have you heard of a DMMORPG by the name of Yggdrasil?"

"The world tree in Scandinavian mythology?" the Prime Minister asked. He had played some DMMORPGs when he was younger, his favorite had been Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic [Remastered] at the time. It had been revolutionary to wander around the galaxy as a Jedi Knight and to be able to almost feel a lightsaber in your hands. The game was a foreign release though, and as such only a select few in Japan had been able to get their hands on it, with him being one of them.

"Well, it is a game named after that," the Shosho said. "But, the thing is that the game was shut down last night. At midnight. And these names of spells and the mention of tiers in certain spell names matches perfectly with Yggdrasil's own magic systems."

"Many games use this magic system, don't they?" the Prime Minster remarked. Didn't the Elder Scrolls XVII also have such a system?

"Yes, there are similar systems, but not the exact ones like we see in Yggdrasil," the Shosho said. "And there is something far more disturbing. Everyone who was involved in the development of the game, at least, everyone who was in their offices at midnight is now dead. A fire broke out there, and once it was extinguished, the bodies were examined and were determined to have died _before_ the fire started. In addition, while examining their office, the fire seems to have exposed a, ah, for lack of a better term, what seems to be a secret lair of sorts which was not in the building's original plans. At least not the official ones. All data of the official game has been wiped clean. There is no more data on the players, on the worlds in the game, or even on the items that were in the game. What we know about the game right now is from fan websites. Not even their backups remain. Several hard drives related to developer notes and accounts are encrypted, and it will take weeks if not months to get through to them. Normally we would demand that they un-encrypt them themselves, but given that everyone there died..."

Throughout this whole scenario, the Prime Minister had been nodding but also wondering why it was that anyone was bothering telling him, a glorified figurehead, about all of this. And it was now that his question would be answered.

"In other words what I want to come to is that it isn't the Chinese, Russians, or Americans who are the most likely culprits- it is us, the nation of Japan," the Shosho said.

"What?" the Prime Minister asked. "Are you saying this just based on a video game analogy?"

"No," the Shosho said. He pulled out a few satellite images. "We can see the wave of light as it envelops the Earth in real time. Though it moved within seconds, these satellites show that it seems to originate from Japan. As for the exact location, we can't tell with our limited data. But, if we can figure it out-"

"-then I will no doubt be receiving calls from other countries right now," the Prime Minister said as he understood and sighed. "No doubt asking what we know about this."

The Shosho smiled. "You are as intelligent as they say. And yes, though all we require you to do is to defer those questions for the time being, we thought as a courtesy we would let you know. This won't stay under wraps, at least not from you, for long. There is even a member of the Diet who has been affected."

The strange phenomenon seemed to grant abilities to people regardless of class, gender, or social standing. And that was what made it really dangerous. From what the reports said, those with healing magic seemed to be able to cure wounds in the span of a few seconds- even reverse the damage of pollution. Something like that could bankrupt all healthcare companies.

And that was just the start. Right now, some citizens were capable of damaging other citizens with magical spells, some of which seemed to be more dangerous than a gun. Not only that, mind controlling magic also seemed to exist, so that was going to be a convenient defense for almost anyone who was going to be charged with a crime. Something like this would completely rewrite the existing social order.

At the very least though, he was thankful that they weren't in America. If he knew the country as well as he did, the people there would already be claiming this as a gift of God with the government largely unable to control things. Come to think of it, there were probably already people within his own country who thought so, though their numbers were quite few.

"Well," the Shosho said as he suddenly got an alert on his phone. "It appears there is a matter I need to attend to. Thank you for your time."

"I take it the quarantine will continue as it already has?" the Prime Minister asked.

"Why yes," the Shosho said. "Until we have a better grasp of the situation it needs to go on. Now, please, excuse me, this is important."

The Shosho walked out of the Prime Minister's office and once he was in a secluded area the neutral expression on his face vanished as he reread the text message.

An entire group of thirty soldiers had vanished.

They weren't dead- there were no bodies. Their entire unit had suddenly disappeared along with their vehicles and equipment. In the building where they had been sent, all the civilians were gone as well.

There were no traces of evidence.

Was this some sort of strange spell at work? That would be the logical conclusion.

Other soldiers had been sent to scout the place but nothing had come of it.

This was like one of the ghost stories he had read as a kid- about ships vanishing within a place such as the Bermuda Triangle. Regardless of what it appeared ot be though, he needed to tackle this head on.

* * *

"Ah, your report, Albedo," Suzuki Satoru remarked as he saw Albedo waiting for him outside his room.

"Yes, Momonga-sama," Albedo replied. "You did want one, and I felt it was better to tell you in person."

Suzuki really was fine with having the report delivered to him when he visited the Throne Room, but this was also fine.

Truth be told, he was constantly agonizing about what he had done earlier. While the mission had technically gone off without a hitch, the point remained that he wasn't sure they hadn't been detected.

He had told the Hanzos about the various listening and surveillance devices that had been set up around and the Hanzos assured him that they had gotten all of them, but he still wasn't sure of that. Such devices did not exist in Yggdrasil and it was only all too likely that something of the sort had been missed. As such, he had still had the Hanzos stay guard in the building where they had rescued those civilians to monitor anyone who dropped by.

What was even worse was that anti-divination magic did not seem to work on modern electronic devices. Spells and items which made one invisible seemed to render them invisible on film as well, but the problem was that Suzuki had not been invisible when he had stepped out to rescue those civilians.

_Perhaps it was a mistake saying my name like that._

He had used the name 'Momon' rather than Suzuki Satoru, but if by chance any camera had managed to record him saying that, he worried it could be traced back to him.

If there were other people who had gained Yggdrasil powers they probably had linked it to the game much as he had. As such, if they looked through the servers, they would find mention of the username Momon given that no two players in Yggdrasil could have the same username. Furthermore, they would also get to know of the name of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. They might even find the other guild members via their IP addresses and could be doing it at the very moment.

_Am I being too paranoid? The Hanzos are sure that they got everything..._

"Several more members of those officer corps came to the scene, but they examined it and simply left," Albedo said.

"Are you sure that information on us hasn't leaked to the outside?" Suzuki asked.

"Forgive me, but without interrogating one of the other officers we cannot know for sure," Albedo said.

"Ah, fine then," Suzuki said. He didn't know if memory altering magic worked in this world, otherwise he could always use **Charm **or **Dominate **to get what he needed. However, if he went down that route he would have to kidnap the officers in question to make sure they didn't talk if memory altering magic didn't work.

And he didn't want to meddle any further.

"And what about the prisoners? And integrating the human civilians into the Sixth Floor?" Suzuki asked.

"Momonga-sama, the integration and interrogation are both going smoothly," Albedo said. "Based on our intel, we have a few humans capable of using spells, though at maximum the spells are only of the Second Tier at most."

"Were these people who can use magic also Yggdrasil players?" Suzuki asked.

"Forgive me," Albedo said with a confused look on her face. "I do not know what this 'Yggdrasil' means."

"Oh right, no problem," Suzuki replied. "Just ask if they've heard of the term."

So it seemed that many people had been granted abilities from Yggdrasil, not just those who played the game. However, it did not seem that anyone else had been reborn into their avatars like Momonga had.

How then was it decided who got powers? Was it at random? Or was there some method behind this?

"Anything else?" Suzuki asked.

"There is one thing," Abledo said, her face contorting with rage. "Every single one of the humans you have so generously housed within the Sixth Floor of Nazarick have asked when they can leave and go back to their homes."

_There was no way that I could let that happen._

He had used the Mirror of Remote Viewing to see what was going on in the interrogation camps that the Kenpeitai had sent up. No one would want to go back there.

However, of course, the people within Nazarick didn't know what was going on or what was going to happen to them if they went back. They obviously, reasonably, wanted to go ahead and go back to the comfort of their homes. He could understand that.

"Such a thing is an impossibility," Suzuki said. "Even if they are not killed they might talk about us to the authorities. Tell them I will meet with them tomorrow and see about their request."

"Momonga-sama, there is no need for one as you to visit such lowly creatures yourself," Albedo said. "And there is no need for such generosity towards such creatures. They, who have so charitably been allowed to stay in the Great Tomb of Nazarick by Momonga-sama himself would dare to spit on such generosity..." Her hands trembled with rage and her pupils were dilated. "Why, they should be crushed like vermin!"

"Albedo!" Suzuki reprimanded. "I understand your concern, but it is no great matter. These people are guests after all, not prisoners. Is this all?"

Albedo pouted but still bowed her head in a dignified matter and seemed to calm down.

"Yes," Albedo said. "But there is another matter that I would like to discuss with you."

"Hmm? Proceed."

"It is regarding my creator, Tabula Smaragdina-sama," Albedo said. Her wings began to tremble. "Are you and Herohero-sama intending to contact him?"

"Um, Herohero is currently asleep," Suzuki said. He had found it odd when Hiroshi had retired for the night- but then again his own skeletal body did not feel fatigue and it was possible that the turmoil that was today's events weighed heavily on Hiroshi. As such, he thought it would be odd to visit Tabula without taking his guild mate along for the ride. "And as such, such a matter must then wait for tomorrow."

"Ah, I just have a selfish request," Albedo said and turned her head away shyly. "Could I accompany you to meet my creator?"

"Ah, he would be a human," Suzuki replied.

"Indeed, I know that, but he is still my creator, and I would like to meet him," Albedo said.

Suzuki scratched his chin. This was not a completely unreasonable request, and he supposed it might actually be beneficial to bring Albedo along. After all, if he was going to convince Tabula's human self that the game was real, there was hardly any better proof than bringing his creation along with him. "I can agree to that, but I ask that you wear a disguise or remain hidden until I tell you to present yourself to him. I want to give him some time to understand what I'm going to tell him." Suzuki did not want to spring Albedo upon Tabula out of the blue and would need some time to get him used to the idea that Yggdrasil had affected the real world before he dropped the bombshell.

"Alright then. Thank you, Suzuki-sama!" Albedo said with a wry smile.

"E-Eh?" Suzuki exclaimed. "Ah, where did you hear that name?"

Albedo now looked away rather shy. "I've overheard you and Herohero-sama do not call each other by your actual names but these alternate ones, so I thought that if Herohero-sama could call you by a pet name, I could as well."

_Pet name? That's my real name- but I guess she doesn't know that._

She was blushing slightly and had turned her face away though her eyes were still fixed on him, like a shy schoolgirl asking her crush out. It was clear she was wondering if it was really okay for her to address him as Suzuki.

"Ah, well then, it's fine," Suzuki said. "You may address me as that."

Albedo now smiled widely, bowed, and almost skipped out of the room.

Once she was outside and back in her own chambers, she couldn't help but let a wide grin come over her face.

Suzuki! She didn't like the name as much as she liked Momonga, but if only the Supreme Beings could call her love with that name, then that meant that in a way, Momonga had elevated herself to be his equal by allowing her to use that name!

No, she could never truly be his equal, but even then, she still smiled as she thought of the generosity that had been bestowed upon her.

Once she had calmed down a little, she got back to business.

Her creator- while she didn't exactly hate him as deeply as she resented the others, the fact was that when compared to Momonga-sama, he was nothing in the grand scheme of things. She would regret killing him if she had to, for a while at least, but she was sure she would get over it.

That was of course, if her creator posed a threat to her love that is.

However, there was still something she couldn't figure out. Why were some of the Supreme Beings in human form?

Demiurge wasn't even talking about it, and when she had pressed him on the matter he had just smirked as if the two of them were in on some inside joke. That implied that he had an idea regarding the matter and expected Albedo had also thought of it. Momonga-sama hadn't even told her anything directly, so that clearly meant that he expected her to know already.

But as hard as she strained her mind, she couldn't think of a reason.

This was unacceptable- as a servant of the Supreme Beings she had to try harder in order to understand them.

Meanwhile, Suzuki was pacing around in his room. It appeared he had no need for sleep and as such he was unsure of how he was going to spend the night.

Bored, he teleported outside the Tomb to glance at the surrounding areas. The pollution did not really obscure his own sight, and he could see the moon.

It got him thinking- he was an undead creature after all. Could he survive in space?

He had heard from Blue Planet that eventually, given enough time, the very sun would swallow the Earth.

"So you know, if we all want to survive as a species we'd have to eventually find another habitable planet. But the thing is that space travel's been going nowhere for years, and it doesn't seem like that'll ever be possible," he remembered Blue Planet saying. Blue Planet did enjoy playing space exploration games as well, and it was probably a love for astronomy that led to such a wonderful depiction of a night sky on the Sixth Floor.

As such, if time went on that long as it may very well given he was now a deathless creature, would he maybe be forced to go to another planet?

While he would be immune to cold and didn't need air, there was a problem given that he was more sensitive to heat than other creatures. Heat was a problem, or at least he thought so.

Given that, it occurred to him that he had once read that the universe itself had a definite lifespan- that eventually the entropy of the universe would reach a point where atoms would no longer hold each other to form objects.

But, that was a thermodynamic law. Magic, which he had now, seemed to circumvent all laws of physics. Could he perhaps survive even something like that?

These thoughts and more, including wondering if he could clear the pollution with magic lingered in his mind as he gazed at the moon.

Of course, such problems were millions of years off in the distance and he had to occupy himself with what was going on right now.

* * *

Space.

The Final Frontier.

It had long since been mankind's dream to travel amongst the stars.

For a time at least, it seemed as if mankind was going to succeed. They put a man on Mars in the year 2053. This was done by the Americans, and as expected the Chinese attempted to replicate this maneuver before a civil war broke out there.

After that though, any of mankind's dreams to colonize Mars, or the moon for that matter, went nowhere. The costs involved with such a project were prohibitive, and there were no real benefits to going towards space. Even with the Earth quite literally scorched it was still far more hospitable than any other planet that humanity could reach. The idea of finding another hospitable planet was a popular one, but they had not found such a planet yet and they could not aimlessly wander across the stars for no reason. Given that spacecraft still could not fly faster than light, the limitations of a human lifespan were also a factor.

Some people theorized of making nuclear plants on other planets or dumping toxic waste there, but the thing was that the world's economic output had declined a very great deal along with its population. Natural resources were so scarce that trying to fund something like that was deemed a colossal waste.

As such, anyone who had dreamed of where mankind would go in the past century would be sorely disappointed at the practically nonexistent progress space travel had made. Commercial space flight was still just a pipe dream.

The International Space Station, however, was still operating. One of the astronauts on board looked out a window at the Earth.

He had seen earlier photos of how breathtaking the Earth appeared from outer space. No longer was it so as a dark cloud of pollution obscured most of what could be seen of the blue planet. It honestly made the Earth look as desolate as the moon itself- no, that was wrong. At least, when people gazed at the moon from the Earth they still talked about how beautiful it had been for centuries. But, there was no such sentiment looking at the Earth like that. It was only a reminder of what the Earth had once been.

The astronaut went looking through the logs and saw something interesting. One of the cameras caught the Earth 'shining' somehow as if it was a mirror for a few seconds.

Intrigued, the astronaut sent a report to mission control, and with his day's work done he decided to call up his wife.

He frowned. It appeared all civilian lines had been disconnected in America.

He woke up his roommate- turns out the same problem was happening with Korea as well.

He couldn't even access the Internet. What was going on here?

* * *

Takeshi fidgeted in his seat uncomfortable. Not that the set was uncomfortable in any way, on the contrary both the seat and the food served before him was excellent, but it was the situation he was in that made him uncomfortable.

For starters, just this morning he had been told that the whole city would be under quarantine. Neat, he had thought, he could get out of that series of meetings at work that he was rather hoping to get out of and now spend that time playing video games. Ah, the Internet was down, but he had quite a few games downloaded that worked offline and though he would be short on rent if the quarantine went on for too long, he was fine for now.

And then, when he went outside to the vending machine, he saw a little girl suddenly summon a monster. The girl's mother looked shocked and grabbed the girl and ushered her back into her own apartment, and the monster vanished along with them.

Needless to say his first reaction was to call the police. Which he did.

He had thought he would be dismissed as a crazy person- instead the freaking Japanese secret service was at the doorstep of their building within minutes, several people were dead, and just as he was about to be arrested, a guy in a mask came out of nowhere and knocked out the Kenpeitai and then transported them all here where they were greeted by a woman with a dog for a head.

Needless to say this was all very disturbing, but through his panic something began to form through his mind.

The spell he had heard a while back ago that the man had chanted, **Fireball **was it? And the way the maid referred to herself as an Homunculus. It reminded him of Yggdrasil... a DMMORPG he had played for a few months before quitting. Come to think of it, that weird armor that one person wore seemed to be very much like a Power Suit.

The name of the Great Tomb of Nazarick also seemed somewhat familiar as if he had heard it somewhere before but didn't quite recall what it referred to.

He saw that the maid with a dog's face was counting some gold coins and an idea came to him.

The rest of his fellow human prisoners/guests were mostly eating quietly. Very few of them dared go near the maid known as Pestonya, but if Takeshi was going to figure out whether or not he was right he would have to take this risk.

As it was, it did not seem like Pestonya was the angry type.

She looked at him with what seemed like surprise when he approached her.

"As, Pestonya-san, if it is alright with you, I would like to ask a little favor," he said.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Pestonya asked.

"I just, ah, wanted to see one of those coins you're counting," he said.

"These coins? Woof!" she asked.

"Ah yes," he said. "I don't want to keep one or anything, just I'm a bit of a collector and wanted to see the design. I just want to see the design please- I promise!"

Pestonya looked at him strangely.

At least, he guessed she looked at him strangely. It was hard to tell with her dog face.

Behind him, he could feel the gazes of everyone else in the room fixated on his back. He tried to hide how nervous he was and how much he was sweating.

This maid did have a dog's head, but no tail he could discern. One could usually figure out a dog's mood by looking at their tail, but she didn't have one. Or maybe she did have one, but it was just hidden beneath her skirt.

"Ah, well, I don't see why not," Pestonya said and handed him a coin.

He looked at its design. It was a picture of a woman- the picture on coins in Yggdrasil after the Valkyrie's Downfall Event update. It was the same size as well, and according to the game's lore one coin would be worth 100,000 yen. "So this is from Yggdrasil..." he muttered.

"Hmm?" Pestonya asked.

"Ah, nothing, thank you very much," he said and handed her the coin back. There was something else that bothered him. "Ah, if this is not intruding, are you perhaps using this gold to resurrect someone?" Gold and gems were needed for higher tier resurrection spells in Yggdrasil, and that was one reason why he could think someone like her would have one. Many people who designed characters too look like maids also made them healers. Of course, gold could also be used for over a thousand different purposes but he took a lucky guess.

"My my, you are right indeed," Pestonya said. Ah, so apparently resurrection also worked in this world?

He smiled, thanked her again, and bowed as well as a sign of courtesy before going back to his seat.

So there were too possibilities. Either these guys were something akin to aliens and were roleplaying as if they were from Yggdrasil, or the game had somehow managed to come to life.

He wasn't sure which one was the crazier idea.

For now though, he chose to concentrate on the food.

A family consisting of a mother, father, and their young son was was about eight years old sat opposite to him. He saw that they had inquisitive looks, as well as did the other members from his apartment.

They were clearly wondering what that all had been about.

"Ah, it was nothing," he said. He wasn't sure if he should go telling them about his new theory just yet. He wasn't even one hundred percent sure it was true.

Once he was done eating, Pestonya addressed them all. "Ah, I hope you enjoyed your meal, honored guests. As it is, the Supreme One Momonga-sama has heard your pleas and has agreed to address your concerns in person tomorrow."

Takeshi resisted the urge to snort at the word 'guests'- they were all clearly not free to leave, so that was just a euphemism for the word 'prisoner.'

"Ah, one thing," Pestonya said. She pointed towards Takeshi. "Please come with me. The rest of you may go back to your assigned cabins."

Takeshi gulped as he thought about a thousand things that could go wrong.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**So yeah, one thing that occurred to me was that strangely enough space travel isn't mentioned that much in Overlord so I'm just assuming that it was never profitable enough to do. (I mean, what can you get from another planet anyway? It would be far too expensive.) Mining other planets is usually a staple of futuristic stories but I'm guessing realistically it wouldn't happen like that.**

**In case anyone is wondering, I don't actually plan to send Suzuki to the moon anytime soon, it was just a bit of musing for now.**

**Also, apparently Maruyama hasn't accounted for inflation as it seems Yen in the future seem to be worth more or less what they are worth now. Either inflation wasn't a thing or for some reason money hasn't changed in value in a hundred years.**

**With that out of the way, thanks for reading again!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Now to start off with things...**

**First of all, regarding the space travel thing, yes I am the string cutter, you're right in that it would be worth it, but again, there is no practical way to get an asteroid to Earth given it takes so long just to get to Mars. Also, the value of items on an asteroid would plummet drastically when it's brought to Earth, for the sole reason that because now those same materials are in abundance and so their value would drop the moment they hit the market. Also, it's something I neglected to mention, but yeah, there would be a LOT of space trash by the year 2138. There's already far too much in our current year and it would naturally only get worse.**

**Also, the space travel thing isn't serious at all at this point. I just sort of wanted to touch on it since Maruyama didn't and explore the ****possibility- Great Teleportation could theoretically close any distance, even billions of light years after all.**

**Next, turning to something that Awareness Bringer bought up (perfect username for the role btw) is apparently that Albedo does mention in the anime the name of Yggdrasil. I was watching it subbed on Netflix and haven't seen it, but I had assumed that the NPCs didn't know they had been in a video game before nor did they know the name of the game. In that case, for this fanfic, they don't know it regardless.**

**Some people pointed out it's odd that humans in the real world can suddenly use third tier magic like Fireball given that it takes years for New Worlders to learn spells. To answer that, as far as I can tell there are two branching theories on how New Worlders learn magic: one is that they take time to learn, true, but there's another one where as they age naturally they also learn spells. For example, Hamsuke knew how to cast spells, even though no one had taught him how to given he lived alone in a forest. So I can only assume he got that naturally. Same thing with a lot of Demihuman tribes and even the first humans in the New World to use Tier Magic, they must've naturally begun at some point rather than one person teaching it to everyone. Even the Frost Dragons mentioned in the Dwarf Kingdom arc also seemed to know magic (at least one of the females did) and I think again, they just somehow knew it.**

**Either way, in the modern world, given that people have lived for so long, the flash of light basically updated their magic knowledge to what it would have been had they been in the New World. So yeah.**

**Lastly, many people have begged for Suzuki to get his human form. I think that kind of goes against the basic premise of Overlord, and yeah, it's weird to have him in his skeletal form while his friends are human, but that's just how it is.**

**As for if he'll ever get his human body back, or the others will get their avatar bodies, well, there's only one way to find out. To keep reading!**

* * *

Demiurge scuttled along the halls of the Great Tomb of Nazarick before he ended up running into someone who seemed to be in a rather foul mood- Shalltear Bloodfallen.

While normally anyone in their right minds would avoid an irritated Shalltear like they would avoid a landmine Demiurge wasn't one of those people. "Oh? How go things Shalltear?"

Shalltear pouted and said, "You know, I had heard that there were some humans in the Great Tomb of Nazarick. So, I though I might have a little snack and so I came up to the Sixth Floor, but then that Shorty told me that I couldn't have any of them! She said all of them were under Momonga-sama's protection! She was probably just lying and didn't want me to get something to eat!"

"Eat?" Demiurge asked puzzled. "I was unaware that vampires ate, so to speak."

"Oh, drink, you know what I mean," Shalltear said, waving her hand dismissively. "You know, I wanted to _suck _them dry." She licked her lips as she said this.

"That said though, indeed, I do have to confirm that Momonga-sama said that those humans were not to be harmed," Demiurge said.

"Eh? Really?" Shalltear asked, surprised.

Demiurge sighed. While it was clear that information in the Great Tomb of Nazarick could travel at remarkable speeds given the use of the **Message **spell, there was also a drawback to this. Namely, nearly everyone modified the information that they got in some way before passing it on- either leaving out or adding some bits or changing the phrasing. The end result was that this was very much like a game of Telephone wherein the last phrase sounded nothing like the first.

"You mean not even the prisoners?" Shalltear asked.

"Indeed," Demiurge said.

Shalltear pouted again but seemed to take it in stride before her eyes widened quizzically. "Come to think of it, why is that Momonga-sama wants to treat these humans so nicely?"

Demiurge smirked. "It's quite elementary, my dear Shalltear."

Shalltear still just looked at him quizzically giving no indication that she had understood.

"Ah, fine then, allow me to spell it out for you," Demiurge said. "You see, very recently Herohero-sama had learned a variety of new technique know as a 'Marital Art' which allowed him to detect the possibility of victory."

"Oh?" Shalltear asked, still with a wide-eyed expression showing that she wasn't really following anything.

"Indeed, and it appears that this is only the starting in a line of techniques he can learn," Demiurge said.

Shalltear now furrowed her brow. If this was an old cartoon, there would be smoke coming out of her ears to show just how hard she was thinking.

However, evidently this thought process ended up nowhere and Demiurge realized he really needed to be clearer with what he said.

"The reason that Herohero-sama has taken human form, in other words, is clearly so that he can learn what these 'Martial Arts' are," Demiurge said. "Given that none of us know any 'Marital Arts' we can only assume that this is some sort of skill that only humans can learn. As such, it seems many of the Supreme Beings have temporarily taken human form in order to gain access to these techniques. The humans they have imprisoned are clearly part of an experiment in order to learn more about these Martial Arts."

Shalltear now had a wide smile on her face. "Ah, thank you Demiurge-san! Now I understand everything perfectly!" She then frowned again. "But won't Herohero-sama be stuck as a human now?"

"I doubt it," Demiurge said, readjusting his glasses. "After all, once he has achieved mastery over Martial Arts he will probably go back to his slime form."

"Ah! Is that possible?" Shalltear asked.

"Indeed it is," Demiurge said. "You see, once, I remember overhearing my creator, Ulbert-sama talking with Warrior Takemikazuchi-sama. Warrior Takemikazuchi-sama had mentioned that he had started out as a human at one point before becoming a Nephilim permanently, so clearly such a thing has happened before."

"Oh!" Shalltear said. "Ah, I get it now. Truly amazing, the Supreme Begins are!"

As Demiurge watched Shalltear skip on ahead he couldn't help but shake his head at how dense she could be at times. Granted that was something that Peroroncino-sama had designed her with, but still, one had to try harder if one was to attempt to serve the Supreme Beings in their full capacity. He was certain that Albedo had already figured out what he had deduced, but the others... well, they might have only figured out as much as Shalltear had.

Demiurge then went on his way to his own destination- which was a certain bar where he saw both Coccytus and Sous-chef already gathered there.

* * *

Hayato breathed a sigh of relief as he finally somehow managed to reach his house.

There had been quite a few unexpected hurdles along the way, but now, he was back at his home.

Granted he would have to go out again to patrol of course so he had to hurry.

However there was yet another hurdle. Namely, that he now had to get the girl outside of his car and into the house.

The garage was currently occupied by one of his own cars. He could get out and then switch the two cars, however, if anyone was monitoring this they would find it rather suspicious.

And in this current world of 2138, one could never be sure one was not watched. Especially in current times, where there were drones flying all over the city in order to catch those violating the quarantine.

As such, he was rather paranoid that even now, there was a street camera watching him. Of course, he controlled all of the cameras in his own house, but those could be hacked or accessed by the authorities. He would have to turn them all off. There were those also of the neighboring houses, which even if they weren't angled directly at his house they probably could at least see his driveway.

He glanced at the rear seat. The girl looked slightly confused and drowsy.

"Keep your head down," he said and walked out towards his house.

While inside, he disabled his entire security system including all of the cameras. This would leave the house vulnerable, but he wasn't too worried. For one, everyone in the neighborhood knew he was a police officer and so the chances of a burglar trying his house was low. Of course, this fact had just made his soon to be ex-wife even more nervous given she was worried someone might drop over for revenge and she was the one who had insisted on the top grade security system in the first place.

Even more reassuring was that the whole city was in quarantine and as a side effect crime should have been negligible.

He then took out a rather large duffle bag and strutted outside.

The thing was that he was constantly wondering about what would happen if he was caught. As such, his shirt which normally was comfortable enough now stuck to his skin. The overlying protective gear just made it even more unbearable.

With trembling hands he opened the door to the passenger side and saw the girl.

"Okay, I need you to not make a sound," he said. "You can't be seen, and I need you to get into this bag. I'll carry you in."

With every single word he said his apprehension heightened and he kept thinking that someone would pop up over his shoulder at one point.

The girl wasn't any heavier than a normal girl, but even that was quite heavier than a normal duffel bag. Thankfully unlike most of the people of 2138 who wasted away most of their lives without engaging in any physical activity, Hayato had kept himself in shape, if only for the fact that his duty as a police officer required it. Then again, most people didn't have access to gyms with air purifiers either like he did.

His arms began to burn as he carried the duffel bag close to his chest. Perhaps he wasn't as in shape as he had thought before.

Once he was inside he gently let the bag down and opened it to let the girl out. He then turned on his heel to lock the door.

Meanwhile, Draudillon Oriculus looked around at her new surroundings.

The bag which she had been kept in smelt terrible, but she had still put up with it and followed this man's instructions to the letter.

It was for a simple reason, given the fact that she felt that he could be trusted. The man had a kind face and expression and there was something about him that could instantly make anyone like him.

Granted, this all could've been a facade and he might have been planning on selling her on the black market or whatever the equivalent of that was here. Granted, the way he was hiding and moving her would even support that. Human trafficking was outlawed in the Dragon Kingdom, though it did occur in the Kingdom of Re-Estize.

The only other real option was to go to the authorities, who were gunning down people. She found it strange that so many law enforcement officers carried guns. There were models in the Dragon Kingdom of course, but even a Silver ranked adventurer could tank a few and there were monsters with hides so tough bullets could not penetrate them unless they were up close. As such, unless the gun fired magical bullets their use was limited back home.

Well, she could have turned to someone else for help, for example the old adage it was safer for a child to approach a woman rather than a man for help when lost, but there was no one else.

As such, she went with this man. She could only reason that the cause for him moving her as such was because her revealing herself would spell death or something along those lines.

However, her stomach began aching again. She really shouldn't have drank that much.

Hayato noticed her clutching her stomach and then came to the only logical conclusion: of course she was hungry! Who knew the last time she had had anything to eat.

He would have normally called on his chef, but given the quarantine that man wouldn't be arriving today, and thankfully for that of course else he might have seen the girl. As for ordering out, he didn't know if such services were still operating and he didn't want to risk her being spotted.

As such, wordlessly, he moved towards the kitchen. He considered himself to be an adequate enough cook (though his wife might disagree) but he figured he should whip something up quick and for times like those there was nothing better than taking a readymade meal. Such things were usually used by the working class, but he had gotten a few packets in anticipation for his daughter visiting. Children, in their innocence, only cared how things tasted and not how healthy they were. He popped the meal in the microwave.

Meanwhile, Draudillon Oriculus was surveying her surroundings. This house looked comfortable enough if the owner was minor noble, and there were some appliances she had never seen before.

Hayato came and said, "Would you mind telling me your name?"

Draudillon was unsure how to reply and if she should be honest or not. If these folks were really at war with her nation, then revealing her name would also reveal her standing as the sovereign of her nation. Also, she had to be careful to maintain her facade. While this man seemed genuinely helpful, she doubted he would take it well if she revealed she was actually a grown woman.

"My name is Draudillon Oriculus," she said, finally deciding to give it in to chance.

Hayato stared at her quizzically and cocked his head. That was not a Japanese name- of course, he had already figured out that she was not Japanese based on her features, but still that name didn't seem to belong to any country he recognized. It was also odd for a child to remember something that long, though if it were her name it wouldn't be too surprising that she would've practiced it over and over.

"And where are you from?" he asked.

"The Dragon Kingdom," Draudillon replied. She noted that this man didn't seem to recognize the name which he should have if this country was at war with her own.

That was clearly a made up name, Hayato figured. "And where is this country?"

"Next to the Baharuth Empire, and close to the Slane Theocracy," she replied.

Okay, Hayato said, those two were definitely made up. She was reciting some sort of fairy tail for him, but repeating the question got him the same answer.

Draudillon noticed that Hayato didn't recognize either of the countries. Then where was she? And for that matter, why was the air unbreathable? What was that strange carriage pulled by an invisible beast of burden, and what was that strange mirror that played music? She had many questions like this, but where she was was the first and most important one.

Of course, asking which country one was currently in would no doubt be met with raised eyebrows, but she figured she might be able to get away with it. It was not odd, she felt, for a child to ask such a question.

"Umu, um, mister, which country are we in right now?" she asked.

Hayato frowned. Did her parents move a lot? He answered the question nonetheless.

This made Draudillon confused. She had never heard of the nation of 'Yee-pan' before, and that was only the tip of the iceberg regarding things that did not make sense at all.

For one, a war was a big deal. Even a simple country bumpkin would probably hear of his nation declaring war on another, and this man seemed to be a sheriff or the equivalent of such a rank. If this 'Yee-pan' had declared war on the Dragon Kingdom, it would clearly be news. But if they didn't intend to declare war, why had they kidnapped her?

Had it been an accident? Or perhaps a ploy by a third party to cause relations between these two nations to crumble? Given she had never heard of this country, and he had never heard of hers, they must be really far apart.

"Then why did I have to hide?" she asked. It would've made sense if he was shielding her from those prosecuting her and those from her country, but what was the reason then?

"Ah, there is a big sickness going around," he explained. "And so anyone who walks outside is hurt badly."

Ah, so it was a quarantine then, she realized. Her country had thankfully never met with a large epidemic of plague or such, but she had heard rumor of the Elephant Warrior Nation which had collapsed fifty years ago due to a strange plague that wiped out nine-tenths of their population. As such, she was aware of how brutal quarantines could get, and she realized that if Hayato was telling the truth he had saved her.

"And what is your name, mister?" she asked.

"I man Hayato Hayama," he said.

The name was not similar to any she had heard before. It didn't help her at all.

Then, there was strange alarm.

"Ah, your food is ready!" Hayato said and ushered her towards what she guessed was the dining room.

The room was well lit by a light in the ceiling which was needed given that the curtains were drawn. She fully didn't understand why, but based on his earlier behavior concluded that they were important.

The food was strange brown _things _for lack of a better word. It smelled nice enough and was clearly the meat of some animal.

"You've never had chicken nuggets before?" Hayato asked. She shook her head, which she regretted given how incredulous he sounded when he asked that. Should she have answered 'yes' or something along those lines?

Hayato found it odd, but not too odd. His wife, after all, would frown on feeding such food for the lower classes to their daughter. Perhaps this girl's parents were similar in that regard?

"Well, you just eat it like this," Hayato said and picked one up and popped it into his mouth.

Draudillon was appalled at his lack of manners. He didn't even use any utensils! Such behavior was ill-fitting for any kind of adult.

Then she figured this might be some sort of custom in this country and hid her bewildered expression quickly. She tentatively picked one up- it was quite hot and she felt the oil in it spread on her fingers.

She took the tiniest of nibbles and it tasted alright. She took a bigger bite.

It was far more oily than she had expected and was quite spicy, but otherwise was fine as a meal.

"Let me get you something to drink," Hayato said and returned with a tall clean glass.

Draudillon took a glance at the glass. One could tell a lot about someone based off the utensils they used. This glass was perfectly ordinary, though it was also perfectly clean. As such, she could decipher nothing from it. Or perhaps Hayato had given this to her on purpose, assuming that a child didn't need to see the finest cutlery in the household?

She didn't dare say that she was the queen of her nation, earlier because she was afraid of being called out. But now, she was sure that this man would not believe her when he had not even heard of the country she was from. Not only that, she did not have any of her royal artifacts or her entourage to back her up. As such, any talk of her being a royal from a distant country would be summarily dismissed as nothing more than a child's fantasy.

Hayato then poured something into the glass. It was not water, and at first Draudillon was disgusted. It was some sort of black liquid which bubbled in the glass. It honestly looked like sewage water for a second.

Hayato though looked at her as if expecting that she'd enjoy it. Draudillon's confused look confused him. "Have you never had Coca-Cola before?"

The brand was freaking ubiquitous, even in the current era. The formula had been changed in 2118, but this was the far more expensive classic version with the original 1985 recipe. It was hard to come across it, but Hayato did have a few cans and had saved it for when his daughter would be visiting him. Did children who had never heard of the brand even exist?

Granted, his wife had never approved of giving their daughter soft drinks, but even then Hayato had been the one to sneak her a few sips. He knew they were bad for her, but a few sips wouldn't hurt, he had reasoned.

Seeing Hayato's expression, Draudillon took the glass. Her special ring did not seem to have a reaction to it, and she took a sip.

It tasted nothing like how she had expected. It was sweet- overwhelmingly so. It was something only a child would really like, then again, given how she looked like she figured that that was the exact reason this man had given her this.

She drank about half of it. Meanwhile, Hayato grilled her regarding some other questions. She didn't know what a 'phone number' or 'email address' or 'smartphone' was and these answers seemed to really frustrate Hayato.

As a matter of fact, Draudillon Oriculus realized painfully that she didn't even have any money on her. It was something unnecessary for a queen to have, of course and this country most probably used some other manner of currency, but they would probably still accept the coins for their gold and silver.

It was then that something caught her eye. On the window porch, in front of the curtain, was a little statue. She thought statue, but it looked sort of like a toy. "Is that a Frost Dragon?" she asked, pointing to it. That meant that this country was probably located near a cold climate or a mountain range.

Hayato turned around to see what she was pointing out. That was one of the figurines sold by Yggdrasil in the olden days. He still had a few, but he had kept them locked up as his wife rather didn't approve of him leaving such things lying about, saying that it was little more than a children's toy and not appropriate while entertaining high-class guests. Given that she was no longer around, he had felt a certain sense of catharsis to finally leave them on full display.

"Indeed it is," he said in surprise. How did this girl know of something from Yggdrasil? Well, even children could play the game. There was even a guild which had almost rivaled Ainz Ooal Gown which had a child as its head. "Ah, so you play Yggdrasil as well?"

"Yggdrasil?" Draudillon asked. The word did not seem to linguistically belong to the same language that Hayato's name belonged too. "Uh, no, I don't know what that is."

"Eh? Then how did you name that creature?" he asked.

"I've heard stories of them," Draudillon said.

Oh? So was her father or mother possibly a player, maybe even someone who had such a figurine in their house?

Then, Draudillon got an idea. "Say, Mr. Hayato, could you show me a map? I know how to find the place I come from on a map."

Hayato was a little surprised at this, but figured it was worth a shot. He didn't have access to the Internet, so he went upstairs to find an atlas and he brought it down and opened it to the map of the world.

Draudillon had no clue what she was looking at. What were these places? Why were there so many continents? Was the world actually this big?

Hayato seemed to note her confusion and turned to another page. No. Another one. No dice. Another one. Nothing. Yet another one. No clue at all.

At last, she gave up on the idea. It looked like this was not going to be easy at all. There was no real way to get help if she could not even convince this man that her country existed- he didn't even know the location of the countries close to her, for that matter. And she had no idea where she was, so she could not even give a vague direction such as north or south.

* * *

Suzuki gazed up at the sky when he suddenly got a **Message** from Albedo.

"Momonga-sama, there is something that I believe should interest you. There is one who knows of this 'Yggdrasil' that you mention," she said.

Suzuki teleported back inside to his room and told Albedo to come to his room.

Meanwhile, Takeshi was feeling extremely nervous. He had been lead from the dinner table where the rest of his neighbors had been by a maid with a dog for a head and then taken on a long journey until he found himself before an impossibly gorgeous woman with horns and hip wings- and then he remembered the other figure that had been beside the masked man.

Though she smiled, there seemed to be a hidden condescendence to it. He shuddered.

"Do you know about 'Yggdrasil?'" she asked.

"Well yes, I-" he began before he was cut off.

"Well then, Momonga-sama would like to meet with you," she said and led him down another long path through various ornate hallways until they came up on a room.

The lady knocked on the door.

"Come in, Albedo," a deep voice from within said.

The door was opened to let Takeshi in. He felt like a kid who had been called suddenly to the principal's office- he felt scared, but unsure of what he had done wrong. Had it been that coin he had asked to see?

It didn't help that the room was occupied by the personification of death itself. The only thing that the man lacked was a large scythe to complete the picture. If his knowledge from Yggdrasil was right, this was an Overlord.

"Greetings, Momonga-sama," Albedo said and bowed.

Takeshi figured out from his clothes that this was the same man from earlier, only without the mask. He bowed as well, but he was unsure of what to say.

"Raise your heads," the Overlord said. His voice carried the air of someone who spat orders and expected them to be followed.

Takeshi raised his head. It was far more frightening than in the game- and part of that was that characters such as Overlords had facial expressions. Also, and more importantly, Takeshi knew he simply couldn't log off.

"So you know about Yggdrasil?" the Overlord asked.

"Yeah," Takeshi said. "It's a DMMORPG I used to play."

Suzuki immediately said, "Albedo, please wait outside. I need to discuss this in private." He did not think it was appropriate just yet to let the NPCs know that they were in a game. As a matter of fact, when or if he would decide to do that, he would probably start by telling just one of them to see how they reacted to it and then move on to the others.

Albedo nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. Takeshi started sweating- he did not want to be alone in a room with this monster, even if it had 'saved' him a while earlier.

Suzuki scratched his chin. Where to begin with exactly? He wasn't sure if he could trust this person. By using **Mana Essence **as well as **Life Essence **he could see that this person was about as weak as Hiroshi had been the morning when he had just been found, but there was the possibility this person was using **False Data Life **and **False Data Mana **to trick Suzuki.

At the same time, he couldn't help but see a bit of Hiroshi in this person. Just like Hiroshi, Takeshi too seemed to be rather scared at what he had discovered. Was he being too harsh? In the same situation, how would he have reacted?

Surely if this person was very strong, they would have done something when they had been about to be arrested, no?

Suzuki remembered something else that Touch Me had once said: "It's dangerous to trust everyone- but it's far more dangerous to trust no one."

He didn't remember the original person who had come up with that quote, but it did pierce through his suspicion somewhat.

And come to think of it, there was a silver lining here. He could use Takeshi's help when he tried to explain to the other humans he had taken in (he tried hard not to think of the word _imprisoned _here) and get them to calm down. After all, though he couldn't allow them to leave he didn't want to hold them against their will either.

But, for now, he would first want to coax all the information that Takeshi had out of him and then he would give him a few breadcrumbs of information, just enough to placate him.

"So, what did you play as in Yggdrasil? What was your username?" the Overlord asked.

Takeshi gulped. If Yggdrasil was real and not a game, how did this monster know what a 'username' was? "My name was Clark Kent in the game. I played as a human monk."

Takeshi liked flying around wearing his special red cape which allowed the user to fly indefinitely. He couldn't make the exact costume in Yggdrasil because of copyright issues, but anyone who saw him in game would know exactly who he was roleplaying as. He even had several magic items that let him use abilities such as **Frost Breath**.

"And were you part of a guild?" the Overlord asked.

"No, but I did hang out with some friends," Takeshi said.

Suzuki then moved his face closer to Takeshi's. "Answer this truthfully- did you gain any magical abilities since the morning?"

"No, no, I can't do any of those spells myself," Takeshi said. He hadn't even gotten his avatar's strength in real life. "I mean, I quit the game over three years ago."

It was then that Takeshi realized something. A memory hit him as hard as a truck would an Isekai protagonist. The name of the Great Tomb of Nazarick- he realized where he had heard it before!

"Do you know of a player by the name of Touch Me?" Takeshi asked.

Suzuki's jaw dropped. "You know about Touch Me?"

"Yeah," Takeshi said.

Back when he played Yggdrasil, Takeshi had played PvP for some time. He had played against a player by the name of Touch Me- and the reason he remembered that player's name was because he had been completely totaled by him.

Though his character was built for roleplaying it was still a competitive build, and the few times he had ever lost a match had always been close losses, but he had not even come close to beating Touch Me.

It was humiliating and the only thing that he could conclude was that Touch Me was cheating somehow, and he suggested to his friends that they should try ambushing him outside of the PvP realm as revenge. His friends agreed to it.

That was, until they learned he was a member of the guild called Ainz Ooal Gown. A guild that had famously survived the largest raiding force the game had ever seen. Not only that but Touch Me was no cheater, rather he was the game's third best player when it came to PvP.

Takeshi had had a defeated look on his face standing outside their guild base. He knew he probably couldn't conquer it, but had decided to check it out once anyway.

And just then, a message had come up. Takeshi had turned around to see that Touch Me was behind him.

Surprisingly, Touch Me didn't PK him instantly and seemed to be interested in his outfit. The two of them began talking a little, and Takeshi had learnt that Touch Me also liked roleplaying as a superhero much like Takeshi did. Takeshi couldn't join Ainz Ooal Gown as he preferred to play as a human, given that the Kryptonian race was not available in the game, but in the end he found out that he sort of liked the other player.

He had abandoned all ideas of getting revenge after that.

He relayed this information to the Overlord, afraid of what might happen to him given that this Overlord looked like he was the master of this Tomb. Wait, if he was the master of this Tomb, did that mean that he was-

"Ah, so that's how you knew him," Suzuki said, interrupting his thought process. He figured that now would be a good enough time to introduce himself then. He had never heard of Touch Me mentioning a story like that, but it was possible that he might have neglected to tell Suzuki about it, or that Suzuki just didn't remember. It didn't look like the two of them were best friends or anything, just that they seemed to share a common interest in the game. "I'm just like you, I'm a Yggdrasil player too. The game servers were being shut down at midnight, and I stayed logged in, and suddenly I found myself in my avatar's body like this."

Takeshi blinked. "So... the game came to life then?" It made sense with everything that he had seen so far, even though it was still quite unbelievable.

"Indeed," the Overlord said. "My real name is Suzuki Satoru. I'm the guild master of Ainz Ooal Gown, and this was our guild's base, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick."

"So is Touch Me here?" Takeshi asked.

"No," Suzuki said. "I had been the only one who stayed logged in at that point in time, and I was the only one, to my knowledge, who transformed. Touch Me quit the game years ago." Suzuki chose to leave Herohero out of this for the time being. "The guild came to life, and so did the NPCs. The woman you saw was an NPC, and so was Pestonya, the maid in charge of taking care of all of you." He figured though that he should at least explain that much. "On a seemingly related matter, it appears that as the game came to life, some people, seemingly at random managed to gain powers and spells from Yggdrasil."

Takeshi blinked. That was all far too much to handle at once. Suzuki had to repeat himself.

"Okay," Takeshi said.

"Tell me, you were a player yourself, right?" Suzuki asked. "I'm asking you again, did you also gain magical powers? Or any items from Yggdrasil?"

"Nope," Takeshi said. "Aww darn it, if only I stayed and played the game till the end..." How cool would it be to be basically Superman in real life?

"A friend of mine had the same wish," Suzuki said. "As another matter, did you ever know of something known as 'Martial Arts' in Yggdrasil?"

"Uh, no," Takeshi said.

Suzuki thought it still could be some mechanic that his guild had not discovered in Yggdrasil, but given that another player also hadn't- was it possible it was something no one had managed to unlock in Yggdrasil? The game was designed to hid basically everything, so it was no so far fetched as to assume that perhaps something like a 'Martial Art' existed but no one had managed to unlock it. After all, even after a decade much of the game's secrets were still unexplored.

"Ah, well, long story short- here's what I need you to understand," Suzuki said. "You cannot go back to Japan, as you'd be detained by the authorities. Tomorrow I intend to talk to everyone I brought along with me, and I'd like your help in explaining the situation to them." He paused. "If you need anything, feel free to ask me, by the way."

Suzuki would've liked to continue talking, but Takeshi had begun yawning. Being an undead who felt no fatigue himself was rather trying on his patience already given that most people around him needed to rest.

"Alright then I guess," Takeshi said.

"Let me drop you off," Suzuki said and grabbed him by the shoulder with a skeletal hand.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**Okay, first of all, Shalltear isn't saying 'arinsu' at the end of every sentence like she does in some fan translations. I don't see how it helps and I cut it out.**

**That said, the way I describe Ring of the Unicorn working isn't how it works in canon- apparently it should hypothetically prevent you from even getting drunk, but I'm sticking with my version of stuff given that it makes little sense that royals would choose to never get drunk.**

**Whatever. The inconsistencies will keep building I guess. Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Now to deal with some of your concerns that you guys have mentioned in the last video, no, there won't randomly be people pulling out fifth tier spells or something like that. They are supposed to be rare for a reason.**

**As many of you pointed out, it was a bit out of character for Momonga to tell Takeshi everything last chapter, so I went ahead and rewrote the ending of that chapter so it makes a lot more sense. The basic premise is the same, but you can reread the last bit if you want to. Nothing integral to the story was changed, however, a small bit of this chapter won't carry the same weight.**

**Also, yeah, it seems that we're going through a bit of filler lately, so let's get on with the plot now!**

* * *

Hachiman frowned.

He had been following leads all day, dressed up in a mask and with a voice changer acting under the name of Jaldabaoth, a demon lord exacting righteous vengeance upon the sinners of the world. Parts of his old personality had began to resurface, and he had even begun concocting elaborate speeches on the fly.

At least he hadn't started flourishing a cape. Yet.

He had however, gotten a little overboard with summoning demons. He now had about twenty of them. He and his team would appear before their victims out of nothing and would vanish almost as quickly as they had come leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.

They were all of little use though, as he had now reached a dead end which his demonic army could not bypass.

In other words, the trail had gone cold, even for someone with magical means of interrogation.

Surprisingly, it had lead him to the company that developed Yggdrasil.

Bellriver didn't work for that company, but he had learned that nine employees who had worked at the company had died under mysterious circumstances. Their deaths had been explained away as a suicide, but that was far from the truth. Of course, nine people working in the same company committing suicide simultaneously on the same day was in itself implausible, but what was the truth then? What had been the truth? Bellriver knew, but had died before he could tell Hachiman the full story. Bellriver had actually worked for a news reporting agency, and had been ordered the quash the story before it could be released to the public. But, he had on the side still continued investigating it and when it had been found out that he had gotten too close to the truth, he had been taken care of. And it seemed the secret had died with him.

None of the others he had interrogated had any idea as to what the truth was.

And as such, he had ended up here. In the offices of those who had developed the game in the first place.

Only to find everyone dead.

They had no injuries on them. A fire had broken out, but as far as he could tell they had not asphyxiated. It looked as if they had simply dropped dead without any apparent cause.

He frowned. There must have been some employees or higher-ups who hadn't been here. There were also definitely databases on their servers, but despite all his magical powers he couldn't break into a computer. That was one thing that his supernatural powers could not accomplish. If there was someone alive he could **Charm **them into opening the databases, but with everyone dead there was nothing he could do.

Just as he was contemplating this, a door suddenly slammed open and four uniformed officers barged in holding special grade weapons. Kenpeitai, Hachiman assumed.

There had been a time when he had admired them- had even considered joining them back when he was little- the idea of being part of a special forces unit seemed so cool. In his eyes, they were kind of like Batman, a superhero he had adored when he had been little.

Speaking of Batman, it reminded him of that one time he had been playing Yggdrasil. Touch Me had entered the guild base and told him excitedly about this player who had been going around dressed up as Superman. Hachiman remembered once fighting a monk build who wore an orange outfit and long black spiky hair, so this sort of behavior was not unheard of in Yggdrasil. Apparently Touch Me's favorite superhero was Superman, and that had led to an argument between them about who was the better superhero. Granted, them arguing was nothing new, but this was one of the few arguments that Hachiman could look back at fondly.

Anyway, he had wanted to become one of the Kenpeitai until he read the numerous stories about their abuses of power. None of them were ever confirmed of course, but the rumors were always there, and as he got older he realized they were all nothing more than cogs in the machine.

They didn't even notice him though, instead turning their weapons randomly around, wondering which of the twenty odd or so demons they should point their weapons at.

One of them even spoke up, though his voice cracked, "Freeze! Japense Secret Service, Kenpeitai- we order you to-"

Though Hachiman didn't know it, the man had gotten his order of words completely wrong. But as it was, Hachiman realized that he was not going to get any answers out of a bunch of corpses anyway.

"We're leaving," he said.

He grabbed a nearby demon as it used **Greater Teleportation** to take him back to his home. The officers began firing, but most of the demons were high levelled enough that they were immune to such projectiles, and even if they weren't, they would still be able to take a couple of hits easily.

* * *

Suzuki and Hiroshi were sitting in the conference room.

Hiroshi didn't seem to have had much of a good night's sleep- his eyes were reddened and he had slight bags under them.

"Weren't able to sleep properly?" Suzuki asked.

"Yeah," Hiroshi said while rubbing his eyes. "But it looks like you slept well! You're quite energetic!"

"Uh..." Suzuki mumbled, unsure of what to say.

"Oh right," Hiroshi said, realizing what he had just said. "Sorry about that- I kind of forgot." Undead in Yggdrasil didn't need to sleep, and while he had not had confirmation of this fact in real life, it appeared it was true even in the real world.

"No, nothing, it isn't a problem," Suzuki said and waved his hand. "I can understand. So what was wrong? What kept you up?"

"Uh..." Hiroshi said, seemingly unable to articulate his feelings. "I think we should tell the NPCs the truth."

Eh? Suzuki had not expected something like this to start off their conversation. He had expected to start this meeting by exchanging some pleasantries, and then telling Hiroshi about Takeshi.

"Where did this concern suddenly come from?" Suzuki asked.

"It's just," Hiroshi said. "I went around talking to the NPCs yesterday, and not just Solution Epsilon. Also the others- like Sous-chef, and Demiurge. And they're all just so, so, _innocent_, y'know?"

Suzuki was speechless. The words 'Demiurge' and 'innocent' were usually not used together unless words such as 'tortures' or 'kills' were in between them.

"I mean, they just want to serve us," Hiroshi said. "They believe anything we say. Even Eclair Ecleir Eicler who's supposed to want to take over the Tomb still wouldn't ever harm us, I think. In a way, I actually feel rather bad that we made the NPCs the way we made them. But, I feel like they deserve the truth, you know?"

"But," Suzuki countered. 'We can't be sure if they'll still be loyal to us if they know the truth. If they have sentience, they might also very well be able to change their allegiances out of their free wills. Who knows, they might even go crazy at learning they're video game characters and end up going berserk."

"I don't think so," Hiroshi said. "I mean, Solution just seems to want to do anything I ask of her. And what about Albedo? I mean, you programmed her to love you, so I don't think she'll say anything. We can try telling just those two these things first."

Suzuki scratched his chin. He felt this was a bad idea, but as it was, the guild always made decisions democratically. Granted, there were only two of them, so this was inevitably going to come to a tie, but he wanted to at least delay having to take such a big step until they had gathered more guild members. "The thing is, they have quite a high opinion of us. I can't bring it in myself to take that away from them."

"I know," Hiroshi replied. "And that's why I feel like I can't keep lying to them. And they'll find out the truth eventually, if we go on long enough. And what if they do something wrong because they didn't know about it? Like what if one of them accidentally kills a few humans like we would've programmed them too?"

"I get your point," Suzuki said. "But I still think that it's far too early right now. After all, we can still wait a while and keep our activities to a minimum." From his own point of view, Suzuki's words made total sense. However, he realized that Hiroshi had something else to add.

"I never really told you this, because it never really came up," Hiroshi said. "I mean, in game or anywhere else, and it was a personal thing- but did you know that I was adopted?"

"Oh? No," Suzuki replied. Abandoned children were not common in Japan of the year 2138- as it was the birthrate had sunk so low that it was expected the population would halve itself every fifty years, as such any children that people bore were usually planned. A possibility could be that his birth parents had died, however.

Any orphans as it were would probably be adopted within a heartbeat. A reason for declining birth rates the world over was that the pollution had a tendency to lower fertility in both sexes, as well as create a manner of large complications with pregnancy. As such, there were long waiting lists for people wanting to adopt a child in Japan.

The megacorps looked upon this as a positive change, thinking that having fewer humans around would mean that the Earth's resources could last longer. Also, if all children were adopted they would not need to pay money in order to support them. This however, was rather shortsighted given that humanity was in itself the greatest resource of all, and if numbers dwindled in the future it would lead to massive problems as there would eventually be too few humans to support the higher-ups in society. For the first time in history, birth rates among the wealthy were higher than those among the poor in Japan. However, corporations ignoring long term problems to instead reap short-term benefits was not a problem unique to this century.

"Yeah," Hiroshi said. "I was actually raised by a distant aunt and uncle from the moment I was three months old, but they never told me that growing up. I was told I was their son all my life, and I don't resent them for it or anything- but one day when I was twenty-one my father suddenly said 'Well, it's time I tell you this now that you're a man,' and told me about it. I-I had trouble sleeping for quite a while after that. I just couldn't bring my mind around it, and I got why my aunt and uncle hid the truth from me, but still, part of me wishes they had told me sooner."

Hiroshi didn't need to elaborate further for Suzuki to know what he was getting out. Solution was in a way, Hiroshi's child, and Hiroshi couldn't bring himself to lie to her like he had been lied to.

_Ah, I should have realized it sooner. Or is the fault of this strange body?_

Suzuki had never been particularly good at figuring out emotions, but he thought he should have been able to pick up that there was something deeper plaguing Hiroshi a lot sooner in their conversation. Had he ceased to become a human in mind as well? This skeletal body really was turning out to be more trouble than what it was worth.

"Understood," Suzuki said. "Let's call Solution here, and we'll start by telling her. Then, we can tell Albedo, and after that we'll go get Tabula-san."

In the time it took Solution to reach the conference room, Suzuki filled in Hiroshi on what had happened last night between him and Takeshi.

"Hmm," Hiroshi said. "I've never heard Touch Me mention someone like that either, but if it was just a chance encounter maybe he wouldn't have told all of us?"

There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Hiroshi said as Solution let herself in.

"Alright, Solution," Hiroshi said while taking a deep breath. He tried to appear confident, but was honestly kind of nervous. He knew Solution really couldn't harm him, not when Suzuki could finish her off rather easily, but he was scared that she might reject him if she got to know the truth. That would be more painful than any physical wound, in his opinion. Ah, so was that how his uncle and aunt had felt when he had been younger and they decided not to tell him? Perhaps he had judged them far too harshly for that. "There's something I need to tell you, but you have to promise to keep it a secret until we tell you otherwise, alright?"

Solution bowed and smiled- it was a smile that reached from ear to ear. Hiroshi was sure he should have been disturbed by the sight, but the point remained that this meant that she was actually genuinely really happy. "Understood, Herohero-sama. I will die before this secret leaves my lips."

It creeped Hiroshi out how serious she was- and he was pretty certain she meant it. She would die based on his word alone. He gulped. "You might have wondered why I'm human. The truth is that I was always human- and so was every single one of the guild leaders, including Su-Momonga I mean. This world that we're in is the original world we all grew up in. And all of us are rather weak, especially by your standards, probably only level one or two at best. This world only has humans in it, and there is no magic. Humanity has kind of ruined the environment, but we could still play games using headsets, one of which was Yggdrasil. Everything you knew about the world was from this game, which was where we liked to pretend to be villains and heteromorphic creatures. That's the thing- we only pretended to be such creatures, but the other humans who liked to play as well, humans, liked to kill us in game so we sort of made it our philosophy to get revenge on them. So we made a lot of you to hate humans for that reason alone, but you can't go around killing humans in this place, not the real world."

Solution seemed to be confused by this, so Hiroshi sighed, explained it again and took a piece of paper to explain a few things- namely that killing people in game would result in them coming to life again over and over, but this wouldn't happen, as far as they knew- in real life.

Solution still seemed to be processing this, which was understandable.

"So, Herohero-sama, do you still need me?" Solution asked.

"Huh?" Hiroshi asked. This wasn't the reaction he had been expecting.

"I understand that I can't go around hurting humans as you originally made me," Solution said. "However, I will try my best to serve you, even in this world, if you will let me."

Hiroshi had been expecting anger, or perhaps denial. But this was...

"Are you really alright with this?" Hiroshi asked. "I mean, still working with me..."

"Of course!" Solution said. "It doesn't matter in which world we're in, or if you are a human. I still want nothing more than to serve you all my life!"

Suzuki sighed out of relief, this went far better than he had hoped. Well, it seemed as if Hiroshi had been right regarding the NPC's loyalty being absolute. And he was beginning to see this 'innocence' that Hiroshi had been talking about.

"I see," Hiroshi said. He didn't feel relief- he wasn't even sure what he was feeling. On the one hand, he was happy, on the other hand- it seemed as if Solution had no choice but to want to serve him. It was a thoroughly unequal relationship and it deepened his guilt. "Ah, that's it for now. Just remember to not say anything to anyone else until we say you can, okay?"

"As you wish, Herohero-sama," Solution said and bowed before leaving.

"Well, I guess that went okay," Hiroshi said before slumping in his chair. He didn't seem too happy.

"Ah well, let us call Albedo then and I'll fill her in," Suzuki said.

Albedo took the news far better than either of them had expected. Her smile had broadened somewhat, though it was rather hard to tell if this was genuine or not given that she spent most of her time with a smile on.

However, Albedo wasn't just happy inside. She was ecstatic!

If the other Supreme Beings were indeed all human right now, it meant that they could pose no threat to her Momonga-sama or challenge him for his position of power! At first, she had thought about making a hit squad dedicated solely to dealing with the other Supreme Beings, but she had to admit that it was almost impossible for her to raise a force that could deal with so many powerful warriors even if she did have Rubedo on her side.

However, if they were only as strong as Herohero-sama was right now, it would be easy to pick them off one by one, or to use **Dominate **or **Charm** to ensure their loyalty to Momonga-sama. Even if they did turn, it was unlikely that it would be all of them against Momonga-sama, and she was confident in her ability to deal with such a situation.

Granted, the chances of this were low, but the mark of a true genius was the ability to foresee situations far before they had occurred. That made her wonder- had her master already foreseen this?

As of now though, the existence of such a hit force seemed completely unnecessary.

However, this left a small nagging problem in her mind...

"Momonga-sama, does that mean that you too, were once a human? Then where is your human body?" Albedo asked. And the moment these words left her lips, the realization hit her like a sack of bricks.

It couldn't be... the human body she had seen before- the one she had insulted! Her face reddened deeply suddenly.

"Don't tell me, was that corpse yours?" Albedo asked. Given that Pandora's Actor had mentioned it looked like his creator, it seemed to be a natural conclusion to draw.

Hiroshi frowned. What was Albedo talking about?

Suzuki had no idea how to respond. Had he still been human, he probably would have wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. No- he wanted to do that even now, just that his body didn't respond appropriately. Instead of hyperventilating or breaking out into a sweat, he said, "Ah, it's fine Albedo. You're right, but there's no need to worry about what you said. It was just a test after all."

Albedo was having none of it. "No, no, it is not at all fine, Momonga-sama. I cannot possibly forgive myself after having insulted your personal visage in such a way. Please see fit to punish me as you wish it!"

Hiroshi was getting even more confused. Suzuki shot him a look that said 'it's a long story and I'll explain later' before saying, "As I said, Albedo, that was fine. There was nothing that you said that was out of place or wrong- if those had been your true feelings, in that case I cannot truly reprimand you for them."

"Oh, but Momonga-sama, that wasn't what I thought," Albedo urged. "Those weren't my true feelings. Truth be told, now that I think about, I think that human body of yours is-"

"As it is, we will leave this topic aside for now, there are more important things we need to do," Suzuki said, hastily cutting her off. He did not want to relive that situation again, especially not in front of Hiroshi. He didn't even want to tell Hiroshi about it for that matter and wanted to deflect the conversation away from that path and hope that no one would bring it up again.

"Ah, alright," Albedo said, though she still looked a little shaken.

"Namely, we should go and visit your creator, Tabula Smaragdina," Suzuki said. "I need you to remember though, he probably doesn't know that you've become real, ah, so we need you to ah, stay in the background until we're ready to call you in."

"Understood," Albedo said.

"Secondly, you must keep this fact a secret from the other Floor Guardians and NPCs," Suzuki said. "Until we make this a public announcement. However, Solution already knows so you may discuss this with her."

"Of course, Momonga-sama," Albedo said.

"And now," Suzuki said as he got up and Hiroshi mirrored him. "It's time for us to go."

* * *

The Platinum Dragon Lord raised his head as he felt a strange disturbance. Indeed, his ears picked up a strange sound coming from the norther entrance of this fortress that had once belonged to the Eight Greed Kings.

He could not see through walls however, so the only thing he could think of to do was to send out his suit of armor.

As his suit emerged from the guild base, he saw that there was a consortium of several strange machines outside. He had first thought that they might be some kind of strange heteromorphic race, but he could see other figures within them, meaning they were probably vehicles of some sort.

A voice called out to him from one.

"This is the Thirty-Second Division of the Eastern United States Air Force!" the voice declared. "You and your strange aircraft are currently in United States territory!"

The Platinum Dragon Lord had never heard of the name of such a country. As such, he chose to answer.

"Friends, I do not know the name of your country, but I would be happy to talk this matter out with you if possible," he said.

However, it appeared that his voice was lost amidst the strange whirring of the machines.

So he descended back towards the ground- or rather, the guild base and lowered his floating set of weapons.

Many of his fellow Dragon Lords would find it odd that one of such power as himself would lower his weapons like that, but such things didn't matter to him. He needed information, and he needed it badly.

As such, he did not want to antagonize these people.

You see, he had had a good long time to mull over what had happened to himself, and had come to the only logical conclusion: he had been transported to Yggdrasil.

The Platinum Dragon Lord knew of the world known as Yggdrasil.

Thousands of years ago, after his father the Dragon Emperor had consolidated power all over the world he still found it unfulfilling. His appetite for power grew even more.

And, roughly one thousand years ago, when his mother had been born and been made one of the Dragon Emperor's favorite concubines a pathway to even greater power had revealed itself to him.

True Dragon Lords were able to use Wild Magic- which was analogous to the World Items of Yggdrasil. The two even cancelled each other out. However, a given Dragon Lord could use several types of Wild Magic, but their trump cards would usually only be singular. As an example, the Coffin Dragon Lord had a chief ability that was analogous to the World Item Longinus. As such, the Dragon Lords could not actually do anything they pleased with Wild Magic. As such, his father had constantly been afraid that a new Dragon Lord would appear with Wild Magic that could topple him.

His mother had an ability that let her see beyond this world and into another one. A world where entities who were as powerful as themselves were widespread, and in particular, there were objects- the World Items, which would let anyone possess the power of Wild Magic.

His father had been ecstatic on hearing the news, and devised a plan to bring these items into their own world.

And so, a massive tragedy unfolded. To perform the ritual the lives over one hundred million creatures from the world had been sacrificed. At first, nothing had seemed to change. Dragons had a natural nose for treasure, so they would have certainly been able to detect World Items if they existed.

Two centuries later, his father had begun to actually find some of them. He had been overjoyed at this- until it appeared that the players who possessed World Items were being transported along with them.

His father and mother had both been killed by one of the Greed Kings and from that point onwards, Platinum Dragon Lord had made it his mission to counter this sin that his family had committed. He had brought down the Greed Kings with the help of the Slane Theocracy, and had even managed to befriend two players from the Thirteen Heroes. Most of his knowledge on Yggdrasil came from them, though sadly the leader was dead and had refused to be resurrected. As such, his information was incomplete.

When he found himself in a strange world, he could only assume that somehow, the ritual had backfired in a way, and how now transported him- who knew Wild Magic, the equivalent of a World Item, into Yggdrasil.

As such, if these people were from Yggdrasil and these 'United States' were a guild, he would most likely be slaughtered instantly. He could not antagonize them in that case.

As it was, if he wanted information, he would have to play along.

One of the strange machines landed beside him and several humanoid figures emerged. They had several guns in their possessions- and he was reminded of the Powered Suits of the adventurer group Red Drop. However, their armor did not appear to be high grade.

These individuals seemed fixated on Platinum Dragon Lord's floating weaponry.

"Hands in the air!" one of them screamed.

Platinum Dragon Lord had no clue why he was requesting this, but agreed momentarily until he could figure the situation out a bit more.

"Greetings, friends," Platinum Dragon Lord said. "I must profess I do not know the name of this nation called the United States- I come from a nation by the name of the Argland Council State."

There was confused chatter.

"Who does he think he's playing at? Never heard of us?"

"Never heard of an Argland Council State or whatever."

There was much more noise, but those two sentences told him a few things. One, he was expected to know what this country was, meaning it was massive and quite powerful. Secondly, they had never heard of his own nation. These two things supported his theory that he had been transported to a new world.

So was this what Yggdrasil looked like? It was nowhere near as beautiful as he had been told it was, but perhaps this was simply a section that was particularly ugly.

"What's your name, buddy?" one of them asked.

Platinum Dragon Lord didn't want to give out his actual name, so he went with, "Riku Aganeia."

"And where'd you get this armor?"

"It's a product of my own Wild Magic," Platinum Dragon Lord said.

He was met with laughter, despite the clearly tense situation.

"Magic? Really? Next he'll be telling us he's an alien of some sort."

Several soldiers moved towards the entrance to the guild base behind him. He turned his head, he would have to stop them. He could not let them have access to the treasury.

To their protests, he flew up and considered his next move. What should he do? He could erect a barrier that would contain all of them and then interrogate them at his leisure- though if they had a World Item or were as powerful as the Greed Kings they would either escape or be able to finish him. He could not fight at full strength in this armor either.

As such, there was only one thing he could do. "Wait!" he shouted.

His floating hammer and sword intercepted the paths of the soldiers who were heading into the entrance of the guild base. He now considered his next option. "One of you. I will allow one of you to accompany me into the guild base, to meet with our leader."

"Your leader?" one of them croaked.

"Yes," Platinum Dragon Lord said. "In other words my master." It was a bit of misinformation he could work to his advantage- if he presented himself as being two people or more he would seem to have a numerical advantage compared to appearing as one, though not by quite an amount. He had tried to contact all of his old flames, but he had been unable to reach any of them, even with the **Message **spell. That meant he was all alone.

Was this how these players from Yggdrasil had felt all this time? It seemed fate was not without a sense of irony given that he now found himself in the same predicament as those he had hunted for so long.

He had to talk to them to gain information, but he couldn't let all of them inside the guild base where they might attempt to take his treasure. He didn't even know how powerful one of them was, but he couldn't go ahead and test his powers on one of them in case they really were very powerful. As such, this seemed to be the best option to take.

Of course, the Platinum Dragon Lord knew that if this little gamble of his went wrong, he would likely be killed.

And perhaps, then, he would have paid the price for his family's sins.

* * *

The man who was known as Tabula Smaragdina in the game of Yggdrasil was actually named Tabito Shigimura in real life.

He was a research assistant in a chemistry lab- and it was his interest in chemistry and its history that had fueled his interest in alchemy in the world of Yggdrasil.

For you see, Tabito did not have enough education to rise beyond the ranks of research assistant or the money to pursue such a higher education. As such, he was stuck in the same low post with superiors who disregarded many of the ideas that he had. He was told simply to perform the experiments as required by his superiors and to not think too much, and that was all he was allowed to do.

As such, he could only live out his dreams in the world of Yggdrasil. Alchemy was not chemistry of course, but he did enjoy pretending to be a top rated alchemist in Yggdrasil. It did something to fill the large hole in his heart which he knew could never be fulfilled in real life.

And then the accident happened. The company that had designed the special masks they used had done a bad job of it- as a result a toxic chemical had disfigured half of Tabito's face and his left shoulder as well. It turned out the company had known about the defect long beforehand, but had found it cheaper to just pay off the lawsuits and fines rather than recall the product.

The amount Tabito had gotten couldn't even pay for proper plastic surgery to fix his face and most of it had gone towards other medical bills given he had been hospitalized for four months, and so after recovery he was still slogging it away at his old job for the same low pay as always, with the only change being that many people had looks of disgust when they saw his face. Many tried to hide it, but they were rather bad at it. His relationship with a girl he had been seeing for five years had also failed- either due to his looks or due to his vitriolic temper following the accident.

Against this backdrop, he had started drinking heavily and had abandoned most of his other hobbies- including reading chemistry literature or playing Yggdrasil for that matter. Alcohol was his only comfort in this world.

That was why when the quarantine was announced, he was furious. He went to get a new stock of booze every fifteenth of the month, and it was the thirteenth! That meant that his stash was almost finished and he most likely wouldn't be able to get any more.

There was no outlet for his anger save for some of the older books he had had, and he went and ripped some of them to shreds.

With that, and him consuming twice the usual amount of alcohol as he would usually, the first day of quarantine passed.

And then he was awakened by the sound of someone knocking loudly at his door.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**Now, because I wanted to get to this rather fast, I left out a bit of a scene between Touch Me and the Dragon Empress- so take note that even though this all takes place 'the next day' after the incident there might be a bit of time jumping when I talk about other characters such as Touch Me.**

**And the whole backstory with Platinum Dragon Lord is what I made based on what I think Maruyama is aiming for- but of course I know that I can't really predict what he'll go for 100% so it is possible that in the future this will clash with the lore he will make.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Some of you pointed out that Ainz isn't all that tall, but he seems to tower over every single human he meets in the anime. Might be a perspective issue, but I'm not sure. **

* * *

Tabito Shigimura frowned as he reached for the doorknob.

Who could this be, at this hour? During quarantine? Was it the police?

He opened the door a crack to see a man whom he didn't recognize. The man wasn't wearing any sunglasses or a mask which one would expect even on a normal day, let alone a Hazmat suit given that it was a quarantine. So was he not coming from outside? Was he a resident of the apartment complex? Tabito had never seen someone who looked like him before.

"Excuse me?" he said, trying hard not to slur his words.

"Ah, yes, Tabula Smaragdina-san?" the man asked.

Tabito felt a jolt down his spine. That was his game name in Yggdrasil. "Who is this who's asking?"

"Ah, sorry," the man answered. "My name is Hiroshi Hirota, also known as Herohero in the game of Yggdrasil. I don't think the two of us were ever particularly very close, but you do remember me from the game, right? Both of us were in the same guild."

"Uh, yeah," Tabito answered. "Just a minute."

And with that, Tabito shut the door and then immediately grabbed a chair to form a makeshift barricade in front of his door.

The hairs on his neck were standing. What was this? How was it possible? How did anyone get his online name?

Tabito was one of those people who never gave out his personal information online such as his address or job, even to his guild mates. He liked to divorce himself from his real life persona completely. He even used a voice modifier while using voice chat so that his exact voice couldn't be recognized if he ever met someone whom he had met online in real life.

As such, this was some serious stalker crap like those Creepypastas he spent far too much time reading on the Internet. Well, he was a big fan of horror, and a few of them were genuinely good though the majority were mediocre. A good portion of them were stalker stories, and he did not want to think about what was going to happen to him if Hiroshi made his way into the room. A good portion of them were about scenarios just like this- meeting someone from the Internet in real life who then sold off your kidneys or something like that.

Because if Hiroshi wasn't a stalker, why was he at his front door on a day like this of all days? There was no real proof that this was even the real Herohero from the game, and even if it was, it didn't mean that this man had pure intentions.

Tabito's hands were trembling. Was this all really happening- or had he drunk so much that he was hallucinating?

His headache came back and he hastily reached for another bottle. It was unwise for him to drink so much given he had no clue as to when he would get another bottle, but if his life was really in danger this might be his last bottle ever.

After downing a third of it he went to his safe and entered the pin code. Nestled within was a glistening pistol. It was rather macabre how pretty it looked- there was a stark contrast between it and the dullness of the rest of the room.

Firearms were not common in Japan in the old days, but as it become apparent that citizens were on their own people began resorting to measures such as owning one and even implanting bulletproof fibers into their skin.

There was more knocking. "Um, Tabula-san?" Hiroshi said. His voice seemed confused, as if he was wondering where Tabito was.

Tabito smirked. This man was a good actor.

"I have a loaded firearm with me!" Tabito screamed at the door. "You can get lost, or else I'll start shooting!"

"Whoa, whoa, what happened?" Hiroshi asked.

"You don't need to know," Tabito said. "Get out, and never come back here! I am armed!"

Tabito took a few shaky breaths as he heard footsteps withdraw from the door.

He lowered his weapon.

He was so relieved he hardly noticed the strange shimmering vortex that was forming by his side.

The moment he did, he turned around immediately.

Okay, there was definitely something else in that booze. He was losing all grasp on reality here!

He pointed the gun at the vortex with a shaking hand. A hand appeared from the vortex- but this one was all bones.

To give some context here, Momonga and Herohero were unsure of how to proceed when Tabula had refused to let them in and threatened to shoot them. However, they really couldn't go ahead and go home without at least telling Tabula what had happened.

If Tabula wanted nothing to do with Nazarick, Momonga would happily oblige with his wishes. But he wanted him to know the truth- he owed his friend that much at least.

Tabito, on the other hand, could not form a rational thought as a skeletal face also emerged from the vortex.

This really was turning into a bad Creepypasta. One of those where the protagonist was just walking along the hallway when he suddenly gets attacked by a supernatural entity out of nowhere, and nothing is explained to the viewer. If he himself read a story like this, he would have rated it as being an extremely bad one, even by Internet Creepypasta standards.

As the figure emerged, carrying a staff which was all too familiar to him, he didn't calm down. Yes, this looked like Momonga, and that staff- definitely the thing which their whole guild had spent months of intense effort to make.

Without thinking, Tabito pulled the trigger.

He had not anticipated the kickback as it caused him to drop the gun. He had never actually fired the darn thing, he had just bought it once long ago as a last resort in case something happened to him.

As it was the bullet didn't seem to do this skeletal figure any damage as the figure grabbed the bullet with an outstretched hand.

"Ah, pardon me for scaring you," the figure said.

Tabito half expected the entity to sound like Momonga- but this voice was deep, emotionless, and frosty. He had never heard a voice like this before.

"What do you want from me?" Tabito asked, now slumping onto the floor. His head was spinning and the alcohol was only one of the reasons for that. "I don't have anything worth stealing."

"I am not a thief, Tabula-san," the figure answered him. "Don't you recognize me? I'm Momonga from the guild Ainz Ooal Gown, from the game Yggdrasil."

"I see that," Tabito replied. "But your voice isn't like his." It was possible that he used a voice modified then- or alternatively he was using one now.

Tabito honestly didn't know what to make of the situation anymore. It appeared some people had somehow gotten his real address and his username on Yggdrasil. Was this figure a costume or robot of some sort?

It seemed too real for him for that to be the case.

"I'm sorry for startling you, and for entering your home like this," Momonga said as he pulled over a chair and sat down. "I apologize for resorting to such means, but I think this is the only way I could get to you."

Tabito picked up the gun, but didn't fire it again or point it at Momonga and instead sat down. "So what is this about?"

"The thing you need to know is that Yggdrasil somehow manifested in the real world," Momonga said. "Somehow, all the rules of Yggdrasil now work in the real world too. I was logged into the servers as they shut down, and when they did, I found myself in this actual body of my avatar. The rest of the Great Tomb of Nazarick has come to life as well, including all the NPCs."

Tabito said, "If you're really Momonga- what's your real name?"

"Suzuki Satoru."

Well, if someone had doxxed him and gotten his name, they probably could get that name too, but to some extent that did set him at ease. "So... this is some sort of weird Isekai?"

"Yes, it seems so," Momonga said.

"What's the deal with Herohero then?" Tabito asked. "He sure doesn't look like a slime."

"That, ah-" Momonga said before there was very rapid knocking at the door.

"Suzuki! What happened! I heard a gunshot!"

It was Hiroshi.

"Ah, it appears only those logged in to the game when it was shut down got turned into their avatars," Momonga said. "Herohero is just a normal human for now. Do you mind if I open the door and let him know everything's alright? Do you mind me letting him in?"

"Why didn't he just come with you through the portal then?" Tabito asked.

"Ah, if you did have a gun, he would have been vulnerable to injury," Momonga replied. "It appears that as in game, I am immune to such projectiles unless the one who fires them are above level 60."

"Well, okay then," Tabito said.

Momonga opened the door and a worried Hiroshi was allowed to enter the room.

He eyed the gun that Tabito was holding warily.

"Ah, so, why are you here then?" Tabito asked.

"Well, you were a member of the guild, right?" Momonga asked. "I mean, you helped build it. Now that it's real, I thought that maybe you'd like to come back to it."

"How'd you find me?" Tabito asked.

"Your NPC, Nigredo, used magic to find you," Momonga said.

Well, that sounded like bullcrap to Tabito, but he couldn't think of an alternative unless a good portion of the country was working to not only doxx him but make a robot like this for some reason.

"As a matter of fact, I thought you might not believe me," Momonga said. "And so, I brought some more proof. I am going to be casting the spell **Gate **again."

So that explained the portal- now that he thought about it it did look like the one in Yggdrasil. Or sort of like it- it had textures and contours in real life that would not be there in game.

A figure emerged from the vortex- one that he recognized instantly from the hours he had worked on it.

"Please remove your helmet," Momonga said.

The figure complied and he saw the far too beautiful to be real face of his creation, Albedo.

"I salute you, Tabula Smaragdina-sama," she said and bowed her head.

Albedo still took a look around the room even with her head lowered and was deeply disappointed. Such a place- it was unfit for even the lowest servant of Nazarick, let alone one of the Supreme Beings that had created her. Why was someone such as him living in such squalor?

It wasn't just that- there was also the fact that the room was cluttered and dirty. She could smell alcohol on her creator's body.

Momonga-sama had mentioned something along the lines of the Supreme Beings being 'nothing of importance' in this world, but she hadn't expected something like this.

Tabito rubbed his eyes over and over again.

"Well, it's nice to have you all over here," he said calmly before getting up. "If you don't mind though, I need to start getting breakfast ready."

Tabito made his way into the kitchen where he began opening a few packets of instant ramen.

The others were kind of speechless as they watched this behavior.

"Ah..." Suzuki said.

Hiroshi got up and whispered into Suzuki's ear. "I think he believes he's hallucinating."

"Oh, that explains it," Suzuki answered.

"Eh?" Albedo asked. "Hallucinating?"

"Not so loudly," Suzuki whispered back. "Most likely he can't deal with this, and given the amount he's been drinking, I suppose he thought it's a reasonable conclusion to reach. Though this does pose a bit of a difficulty for us."

"I'll say," Hiroshi muttered as Tabito returned with a bowl of instant ramen and began eating it, almost ignoring the other three in the room entirely.

* * *

Platinum Dragon Lord led the lone soldier behind him through the network of hallways located in the guild base.

There had been some commotion about them only letting one person follow him- he was not privy to the details but the others seemed to agree.

As it was the hallways of the guild base were designed to be as confusing as possible so as to throw off any intruders, but Platinum Dragon Lord had lived in here for several centuries and knew the place like the back of his claw.

Before entering the central treasury, he turned around to talk to the human following him. Now that they were all inside and under the guild bases's lighting, it seemed very apparent that they were humans of some kind.

"We are about to meet my master," Platinum Dragon Lord said. "I take it that you will not fire your weapon unnecessarily?"

The man had refused to leave his weapon behind, and the Platinum Dragon Lord had went along with it given he felt he had little choice in the matter.

"Yeah, sure thing pal," the soldier replied.

Platinum Dragon Lord felt that the solider was being far too informal for someone he had just met, but he ignored it for now. Was that just how people spoke in this place?

The two of them then stepped into the room.

Platinum Dragon Lord opened his real eyes and willed the suit of armor to standby towards the corner as the human began swearing and, despite his warning, pointed his weapon straight at him.

"If you attempt to shoot my master, I will slice your arm off before you can pull the trigger," Platinum Dragon Lord in his armor spoke out as his levitating sword stopped an inch from the man's arm.

The man lowered his weapon and took off his helmet. Even under it, he was wearing a strange mask and goggles, but now Platinum Dragon Lord could see his eyes clearly. He then grabbed something strapped to his waist and said, "There's a strange- _thing_\- here inside this place!"

"Thing?" Platinum Dragon Lord roared in indignation. At the sound of the dragon's voice, the man shuddered. "I have a name. I am the Platinum Dragon Lord, one of the Dragon Lords of the Argland Council State. You will not address me as an 'it!'"

There was force in those last few words.

Platinum Dragon Lord hoped this duality between the armor and his real body would help sell the little bit.

"Ah, sorry, sorry," the soldier babbled. He had assumed at first, that he was looking at some sort of animatronic or robot. After all, there was no way that a real dragon would be around. But that voice did not sound like it was generated from a machine, and those movements were very lifelike. CGI was omniscient in movies in the current age- and he had never seen CGI that looked anything like this before. "I am sorry, Your Highness- Mister Dragon Lord-" he wasn't really sure how one should address a dragon lord, but the dragon didn't seem to correct him when he said this, so he continued- "-but are you real? You're a real dragon? I never thought they existed."

This sent Platinum Dragon Lord's mind into a whirl. If this was Yggdrasil he expected knowledge on what a dragon was to be commonplace. Or were these perhaps new players?

"If I may ask a question first in response to your question," Platinum Dragon Lord said. "I seem to find myself in strange territory. Where in Yggdrasil are we?"

"Yggdrasil?" the soldier asked. He struggled to remember his Norse mythology. He had never read about it in college or anywhere, but he had watched the new renditions of the Avengers movies. Yggdrasil was the world tree that Thor kept on talking about. In the movies... what was Earth called again? He struggled to remember.

"I guess we would perhaps be on Earth-" or wait, "Midgard? As it would be called?"

"I see," Platinum Dragon Lord said. So that confirmed that he was indeed in Yggdrasil. Were that true, than he would have great difficulty surviving here. If he were swarmed by large group of players, he would meet the same fate as all of his kin for sure. He would have to be careful- and if he had been summoned as a form of revenge for killing other Yggdrasil players, he would need to seek protection somehow.

But there was something that nagged at him in the back of his mind. As far as he knew, the servers for Yggdrasil had been shut down- essentially the world had been said to have been destroyed, which was when players such as the Eight Greed Kings had been brought to his world. Or had that been misinformation?

"So where in Yggdrasil are you from, Mister Dragon Lord?" the mana asked.

Platinum Dragon Lord thought of an answer before replying. "I am from Vanaheim." That was the world that the leader of the thirteen heroes told him he was in before being transported to a different world. It would be a good idea to try and blend in for now- he could even offer up the name of the leader to show that he was a friend of players in general.

"Oh," the man said. He was shaking in his boots. He may have been a veteran of many missions but he had never ran into something like this before. The Nine Realms of Yggdrasil were real- though they were probably not like those of the Marvel movies. Sadly he didn't have any further actual knowledge on them. He had never heard of Vanaheim, and only really knew of Asgard and Midgard from watching the movies, but it sounded like a legitimate world to him.

Now that the man had accepted this, Platinum Dragon Lord relaxed a little, assuming he was safe for now. Was there also a nation known as the Argland Council State in this Vanaheim realm of Yggdrasil- or did this simple foot soldier just not know any better? Most likely the latter. "I do not know how I ended up in Midgard, and I apologize if I am encroaching upon your territory, but this was not of my doing. If possible, I would like to converse with the leader of your organization as to what I can do to remedy this."

"Oh," the soldier said. He was nearly oblivious to the fact that several more men had followed him into this place, but they seemed to have gotten lost in the winding tunnels of the guild base. Platinum Dragon Lord could still sense them, but he ignored them for now. "Well, ya see, Mister Dragon Lord, I am just a soldier really- a bit higher ranked. So if you want to speak to my commander that's one thing- but if you want to speak to the President or the Senate or something like that, I don't know if I can arrange for that."

"Who is ultimately in charge of your organization? I wish to meet him or her- or alternatively the king of this country," Platinum Dragon Lord said.

"Now, we don't have kings here," the soldier replied. "But again, looks like you want to speak to the President." This was like one of those old sci-fi movies where the aliens would say, "Take me to your leader."

"Ah, but there is an issue," Platinum Dragon Lord said. "I cannot leave this place and must stand guard over it. In my stead, you make take Riku who will serve as my ambassador to visit the President of yours." His armor bowed to acknowledge himself. "Your comrades have gotten lost in the labyrinth which exists on the way here. On your way out, collect them and tell me what you can arrange for."

"I will accompany you outside," his armor said as it motioned for the soldier to follow him.

"So you're like his bodyguard or something?" the solider asked as they left.

"After a fashion," Riku replied.

"So, uh, is he real?" the soldier asked when they were out of earshot. Or at least, what he thought was out of earshot. A dragon's hearing was far sharper than a human's and Platinum Dragon Lord could hear his voice both through his armor and through his own ears. "Like I mean, he's a real dragon?"

"Indeed," Riku said.

"And what are you? Are you human?" the soldier asked. "Or are you an Asgardian or something?"

Platinum Dragon Lord had no idea what an Asgardian was and so had difficulty answering this question. He remained silent.

The soldier found the others and motioned for them to follow him outside. He'd need to speak to the field commander about what he had found.

He thought about the Avengers movies. Whenever people from alternate worlds showed up, it never bode well. Usually there was something like an inter-dimensional war that was about to break out. Of course, that was assuming that this all wasn't some sort of elaborate hoax and he wasn't being played. But if it was real- well, it was usually soldiers like them who were killed like cannon fodder first before the real heroes swept in.

And he for sure was no hero.

To his surprise, the commander didn't even question if what he was saying was true or now. He seemed to believe the fact that there was a magical talking dragon somewhere in this floating castle at face value, which slightly unnerved him.

"So, you want to meet the President?" the commander asked the suit of armor.

"Indeed," Riku answered. "Please permit me to be the voice of my master."

"Before that, there's one thing," the commander said. "Can you use magic? I would like to see a demonstration of a spell, any spell."

Platinum Dragon Lord found this to be a strange request, but he complied with a simple **Greater Teleportation **spell to disappear and reappear one hundred yards away before coming back to the same place.

"Oh, well," the commander said and bit his lip as if he was thinking deeply. "I would like to meet with ah, your master, if that is alright."

"I can permit you to do so," Riku answered. "Though he will tire of countless visitors soon."

"Alright," the commander said while eyeing him up and down. "You call him 'master'- are you a sort of slave or something?"

"I live to serve my master," Riku answered. "Though I am no slave. Slavery is banned within the domains of the Argland Council State."

"Oh, well, good thing then," the commander said. He was accompanied by several other soldiers as Platinum Dragon Lord led them towards his real body as he had done earlier.

The real body of the Platinum Dragon Lord raised its head as the 'guests' arrived. The soldiers all raised their guns at him before the commander told them to lower their weapons.

"Sorry about this," the commander said. "I just needed to see this with my own eyes before I report to my superiors, ah-" He then turned to Platinum Dragon Lord's suit or armor and whispered. "How should I address him?"

"You may address me as the Platinum Dragon Lord," Platinum Dragon Lord said simply.

"Ah, so you seem to have great ears," the commander said.

"Indeed. My senses are far sharper than that of a human's," Platinum Dragon Lord said.

"Ah, right, well, forgive me, but there is soemthing we need to confirm," the commander said. "Yesterday, at the stroke of midnight, our world, Earth, or Midgard- was it? Yeah, was enveloped in a bright light and suddenly people all over the world developed the ability to cast spells. Were you responsible for that?" Some soldiers behind him exchanged mutterings- this was classified information but he would get them to shut up about it easy enough.

Platinum Dragon Lord was confused. The Eight Greed Kings had imported Tier Magic into his world and as such, magic was already known within Yggdrasil. "I thought that magic was already well known within all realms of Yggdrasil?"

"Well, that might be true where you're from," the commander said. "But here on Ear-Midgard, we don't have any kind of magic. Just science. Until yesterday that is."

Platinum Dragon Lord had heard of science from some reports. It was widely considered to be inferior to magic- and he would have to agree with that assessment.

"Well, my knowledge about the other worlds of Yggdrasil is limited," Platinum Dragon Lord replied. Perhaps Midgard did not have magic casters? He only knew brief details of Vanaheim. "I believe things will become more clearer as we exchange information with one another. As for this even that brought magic into your world, I was not responsible. As a matter of fact I believe that indeed, I might have been a victim of it as well as I was brought here."

"Oh, I see," the commander said. "And you didn't happen to run into any planes, did you? Some of our pilots saw a strange shining entity flying in the sky at very high speeds."

This perked up Platinum Dragon Lord's ears. Could it be one of the other dragon lords which had been brought here alongside him? The description could be describing the Brightness Dragon Lord- though it could also be a number of other things. "That was not I, for I have not left this place in a long time."

"Why thank you," the commander said. "Is there anything that I can get you? Food? Water? Or anything else?"

"No," Platinum Dragon Lord said. "I have no need of sustenance." Dragons as it were needed to only hunt every few months, save for pregnant ones who would need to hunt weekly. This was a good thing considering their massive size and overwhelming power, but he had a magic item that alleviated the need for food and drink.

"Ah well, if there's anything else we can get you, please let us know," the commander said. "In the meantime, I'll try to open a link with the President."

* * *

Tabito was sleeping in his chair with a bottle of win in his hand which he was snuggling like a child would a teddy bear.

He had chosen to completely disregard the other three people in the room and had gone about his morning routine as if they didn't exist and this had ended with him finishing half a bottle and snoozing in a chair.

As such, Suzuki and Hiroshi might have had magical powers, but deep down both of them were people who spent far too much time on the Internet. As such, the sheer awkwardness of the situation prevented them from doing anything.

Any time they'd address Tabito, Tabito would give a strange answer which made no sense.

"What do we do now?" Hiroshi asked.

Suzuki had no answer to this. If Tabito had not believe them, that would have been one thing. But this was flat-out denial of reality.

Hiroshi continued. "I think we should take him back to Nazarick as he is."

"That's kidnapping," Suzuki muttered.

"We've already done that though," Hiroshi answered.

"Indeed, but he is our friend," Suzuki said. He honestly didn't feel too deeply about the humans he was currently keeping in Nazarick, but was deeply worried about what Tabito would think of him.

"And we need to show him that he isn't hallucinating," Hiroshi said. "He probably drinks too much and thinks its due to that. We need to get rid of the bottle first of all. And then, when he sees the guild base, he'll probably realize that he isn't just seeing things."

Suzuki considered this. If Tabito had simply said that he did not want to go back to Nazarick and wanted to stay out of the guild's business, Suzuki woudl have gladly accepted such a wish and gone back to Nazarick without a fuss. But, it did not seem that Tabito was in a right state of mind- or that Tabito realized what was going on. "Albedo- do you have a problem with us holding your creator, Tabula Smaragdina, agaisnt his will?"

Hiroshi then flinched as he remembered that Albedo was also with them. She had remained quiet and still for so long he had forgotten about her. If she had feelings for her creator like Solution did for him, then this could turn messy quickly.

"I only wish to serve you above all, Momonga-sama," Albedo said. "As such, if you so desire, I will split open the skull of my creator should you wish."

Her voice sounded like honey but the content was anything but. She had even drawn her weapon as she said this.

_Wow! She turned on him rather quick! Wait- is this because of what Suzuki changed in her character sheet description?_

"Ah, no, Albedo," Suzuki said. "We merely wish to hold him for a while. I'll take the bottle of wine from him, and let's head back to Nazarick. We'll discuss things further there."

* * *

Draudillon Oriculus spent most of her time in front of the strange glowing contraption before her.

She had asked what sort of magic made this weird mirror work but Hayato had just laughed and ruffled her hair for some reason when she asked that. He said that magic wasn't real and this worked on 'science'- something she had heard of before. Scientists usually made things like telescope lenses and gyroscopes- though anyone with half a brain knew it was highly inferior to magic. But, she guessed that perhaps these people had developed a far more advanced version of science. But what was that about magic not existing? What kind of a dumb lie was that?

It took her a while to figure out how the 'remote' thing worked but she was able to use it confidently now.

There wasn't much she could see. No matter what she did, it wouldn't show her the view of her own country. Many times it would show a message saying that the channel had been blocked due to the quarantine. She couldn't read the script, but she did understand what was being said. Draduillon hadn't fully understood when Hayato had told her that this was a box in a network of boxes and they were all connected- there was no such magical or scientific technology back in her home country. It seemed the government of this nation had control over what one could see through this device.

Hayato had gotten a call and had left her alone in the house, and she whiled away time fliting through the channels. She didn't really need Hayato's warning to stay inside, that much was common sense.

She had, in a sense, already pretty much given up regarding her situation. There was nothing further she could do. As far as she could tell, she had been whisked away to another land. Until her captors made a move or announced themselves- assuming they existed, there was nothing she could do. No scheme of hers would work, and she had accepted that.

As it was she found a room upstairs which seemed to belong to a young girl- or had been prepared for one at least anyway and she climbed into the bed and fell asleep.

Hayato returned to the house much later, and had climbed upstairs to see that the girl he had rescued was fast asleep in the bed he had made for his own daughter.

It did not look like the quarantine was going to be over any time soon, so there was little to be angry with her about given that he wouldn't need it.

He tucked her in and went downstairs and made something. It was another microwave dinner- again, not very healthy, but given that his cook wouldn't be showing up it was the only thing he could do as it was already pretty late. When it was ready, he carried a plate upstairs and woke Draudillon up, telling her that dinner was ready.

"Eh?" Draudillon muttered. "I'm not really hungry..." She thought she was more sleepy than hungry but then her stomach growled.

For dinner was more of the strange warm stuff from earlier- though this had a yellowish covering on top that looked like butter. "You haven't had pizza bagels before?" At this point, Hayato guessed it was futile to even ask such things. The girl didn't seem to have even seen a television before- just what kind of place had she grown up in?

They tasted good enough to Draudillon, but again, their taste was quite strong and they were quite oily and something she guessed only a real child would enjoy. She would usually want a drink this time around but asking for one would arose suspicion- though Hayato had handed her a glass of orange juice. It frankly did not taste at all as good as the kind she had in the palace but she didn't let her displeasure show.

"So, how was work?" she asked. There was really nothing to talk about, and this seemed an innocent enough question if said in the right tone even if it was from a small child.

"Oh nothing special," Hayato said. "I just drove around. Some other guys got to see some action, but not me."

Once she was done eating, Hayto led her back to the same room and tucked her carefully in.

It was sort of heartwarming seeing this, but as you can imagine it was deeply uncomfortable and even sort of sickening for someone such as Draudillon who was actually an adult woman. But she decided to go with it as Hayto turned off the lights (these people used a strange apparatus on the wall to turn them off and on) before he walked away saying, "Sleep tight! Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

Were there actual parasites in her bed? She hadn't felt them bite her, and something about his tone told her that he was joking- though it was a rather poor joke if really was just that.

Of course, she actually couldn't sleep given the long nap she had taken, and so when she was sure that Hayato was asleep she snuck downstairs to see if she could maybe find a bottle or two.

You would probably think that this was a bad idea- but given the general stress of the situation she had found herself in and the fact that she could apparently do nothing about it except pretend to be this strange man's daughter she needed an outlet for her frustrations, no matter how nice he was.

While she snuck downstairs she silently cursed herself for not having looked for wine some time before.

She did not turn on the light, not wanting to risk getting caught. But at the same time, given that all the curtains in the house were still shut she couldn't see a thing. That is, she wouldn't have been able to normally, but there seemed to be a lot of mirrors in the house which gave off a low blue light which was just enough for her to get by. The thing that Hayato had cooked her meal in even had glowing numerals on it- hey! She recognized those numbers! 2:45- but what did they mean? After a while of staring at them it changed to 2:46, so this was probably some sort of clock in addition to being an oven?

She opened the fridge but couldn't find anything like she was hoping for. She found a couple of drinks, sure, but those were the same strange fizzling ones that were far too sweet which she had had earlier. Next to this was a cabinet drawer, though she had to pull up a chair to reach it.

All she saw were what looked like spices. The second drawer did have a bottle but on inspecition it was clear it was filled with oil rather than wine. It was only in the third drawer that she hit the jackpot and found what she was looking for.

Now, the only problem was that the bottle was still sealed shut. As she couldn't see a corkscrew she instead went for a spoon.

She was successful and dropped the spoon onto the floor and began drinking straight out of the bottle. Some of it slipped onto her chin but she didn't mind. However, her clothes might get dirty and she didn't have a replacement, and given that there was a quarantine around she was rather unsure if she could buy any spares. Hayato seemed to have a daughter, but she wasn't sure if they would be the same size.

With half of the bottle finished, she was a bit intoxicated already. The wine wasn't very good by her standards but she would take what she got.

As such, she didn't notice the footsteps or the lights turn on as Hayato came in with a gun in his hand.

Instead of what he had been expecting- an intruder, what he saw was a little girl chugging a bottle of wine with a shocked look on her face.

Draudillon did a spit-take as she saw the form of her rescuer.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**Okay, so this is where our story is right now.**

**Just a little reminder- the bit with Draudillon is occurring one night before the other events in the story. I would've written about it earlier but as said by many people, the plot seemed to be dragging on for no reason at all.**

**And yeah, it's kind of unfortunate for PDL that the word Yggdrasil is used in almost literally every form of media- leading to this confusion. But let's see how that plays out! **

**As for Tabula, well, I didn't expect for all the guild members to join so willingly. Let's see how things develop on that end!**

**And as for the Creepypasta references, I do tend to read them myself. But again, a whole lot of them are just- well, bad! It does seem the thing that Tabula would be interested in if he liked horror though. **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Well, it's been quite some time since the last update- way longer than I anticipated. Thing is with the new bug going around I still have work to do and can't just spend time at home.**

**Moving on, thanks for all the feedback! To the person saying that Hamsuke does not equal a normal human, admittedly I didn't know about the runes part, but the thing is that a lot of creatures in the new world seemed to know magic instinctively without anyone apparently teaching them it. Also, even if humans have to learn magic it opens up the endless question as to who taught the first humans how to do magic. Also, in the Evileye side story it's mentioned there are different classes of magic casters- with sorcerers being people who cast magic with their feelings rather than thinking about it.**

**So yeah, I'm going to stand by my decision to give some people magic powers off the bat. I needed the story to start, anyway.**

* * *

Hayato had been awakened in the middle of the night rather easily- as it was he had not been getting a sound sleep after the events of the day. At first, he had no idea why he had suddenly got up when he noticed a strange sound from beneath him.

An intruder?

He sat up, alert.

The thing was that he would normally not worry about something like this happening, but he had just disabled his home security system. in other words, if he was really unlucky, he was going to end up as the victim of a home invasion on the one day he had turned off his state-of-the-art security system.

At first, he thought he had just been hearing things as there was silence for a few more palpable seconds, but then there was an unmistakably loud noise from below as he creaked his door open. He turned around and picked up his duty revolver and went downstairs.

At first, he thought that he had been mistaken because there was no sign of movement- until he saw the shadows shift near the kitchen. He stopped near the entrance, straining his ears for any sound that might give away a burgler's presence. When he heard nothing, he flipped the switch on and suddenly bathed the kitchen in white light as he saw what was making the noise- the girl he had picked up!

He sighed- well this sort of explained everything. He pocketed his weapon as he noticed something strange that raised his eyebrows- the girl was drinking. A bottle of one of his finest Spanish Red Wines.

This was rather unsettling given that the girl was maybe seven at most- and as he took the bottle from her he saw that it was half empty. This bottle had been new and he had not opened it.

He would've normally came to the conclusion that she had just dumped half of it in the sink, after all, that would make sense, right?

But then he saw that she had spat out some of it as she saw him, and then came to the other conclusion. But that couldn't be- even someone like him would have trouble drinking that much.

However, from her guilty expression, he began to get suspicious. He pulled her close and began sniffing her hair- she didn't seem to reek of alcohol.

Unbeknownst to him, Draudillon had a magic item with her that maintained both her clothes and her body odor. As such, she was just wondering why this strange man was suddenly sniffing her all of a sudden.

"Did you drink all of that?" he asked. He couldn't find an odor.

"Uh..." Draudillon said. She should've came up with some sort of answer- she knew that, but the thing was that she was now mildly intoxicated and in shock so she couldn't formulate a response immediately.

Although Draudillon was an adult, she found herself behaving much like like an actual child would if caught with her hand reaching into the cookie jar. As such, all that came out after that was, "Uh, hmm.. ugh, ye-"

As such she didn't even protest when Hayato picked her up and put her down on chair in the living room, flicked the lights on, and then stooped down to her eye level.

She couldn't discern what emotion he was feeling right now- if she had to describe his face it would still be a face anyone would easily trust, but now his expression was unreadable.

"Alright then, who are you really?" Hayato asked. " At first I thought that your parents were abusing you- that you had seen one of them drinking heavily, and one of them might've even let you drink as much as you want."

That was indeed Hayato's first conclusion, but the evidence left at the 'crime scene' so to speak didn't fit in with this.

"I see that you opened the bottle with a spoon handle. No kid would've had the foresight to plan out something like this," he said. He had heard of adults who could pass off for children- but those were usually adults that could pass off for teenagers. She seemed far too young for any adult to pass for her, and even if she had some sort of dwarfism her facial structure should be different from a child's. Unless she had had some sort of reconstructive surgery to make her face look like that?

He looked at her in a new light. His face was now contorted in anger. The odd calm in his voice was somehow more terrifying to Draudillon than if he had been yelling.

"Alright then, I know that there is something fishy here," Hayato said. "And I want you to spill the beans about it right now. If you lie, I'm letting the authorities know, and I can assure you they are not going to treat you kindly after what you'd done."

Draudillon didn't know this, but this was kind of a hollow threat from Hayato's end. Given that he was complicit with her for quite some time and had hid her illegally, he would most likely also get into trouble. If Draudillon's brain was still functioning properly she might have even been able to call out Hayato on this bluff.

However, she was scared, and the alcohol had addled with her brain a little. "I'm sorry- the thing is you're right. I'm an adult. I'm actually an adult."

Hayato noticed the change in her demeanor and voice. He had sort of suspected this, but given her appearance it seemed almost impossible to him. Perhaps, if the woman had had extraordinary genetics and multiple surgeries she could possibly pass this off, but why would someone?

The only explanation he could come to was that perhaps this woman was a prostitute, and the appearance was to please certain customer's tastes.

The thought was rather unpleasant to him given that he was the father of a young girl himself. It reminded him of one particular person who seemed to be into little girl types, Peroroncino, who had opened up to Hayato a little bit about his fantasies once upon a time, though Hayato had shut him down rather quickly on this and Peroroncino never mentioned something like that again to him. The two of them still technically were friends, though perhaps Peroroncino had become a bit embarrassed at revealing a bit too much to someone like himself and so seemed a little distant after the incident. As it was Hayato was not too sorry if they maintained a completely 'professional' relationship in the game.

He was rather against the existence of 'lolis' in general and thought that most of the time it was just a way to get around laws regarding age of consent. However, as it was the current censorship laws were fine with it so long as they followed certain guidelines.

Or was there another possibility? Perhaps she was another kind of criminal, perhaps even a smuggler, which would let her pass by places without drawing suspicion?

His train of thought was interrupted by Draudillon babbling what to him was absolute nonsense. Something about her being the Queen of a large nation, who took this form only to deceive most of her countrymen.

"Enough games," he said in a low voice. "I want the truth."

Draudillon knew there was little salvation at hand save for this man, so she thought her best option was to reveal her true form. It would not confirm the fact that she was royalty, but it might calm this man down a little. Plus, it had the added benefit of being extremely appealing to men. Perhaps it would save her better than this one? Either way, she was running out of any other options or trump cards to play.

And so, she began transforming into her true body.

It was over in a matter of mere seconds, as her body grew older and became that of a woman in her early twenties, and a fairly attractive one at that. Her clothes were designed to grow in size in case she had to revert to such an appearance, and as such she was thankfully not standing around naked, though the design of the dress was a little odd for a grown woman to wear.

Hayato couldn't believe what he was seeing.

This had to be a dream- right?

He took his gun and shakily pointed it at her. "Just what the hell are you?"

"Please don't shoot me," Draudillon said. "I am a Dragon Lord, and this is what I really look like. As I said, what you saw before was me pretending to be a child because I thought it would be safer."

"A Dragon Lord?" Hayato asked. The sudden rush of adrenaline made it hard for him to think.

"Yes, my ancestor was the great Brightness Dragon Lord," she said. "If you place your weapon down, we can talk and I'll explain everything."

Hesitantly, Hayato lowered his weapon. Just what had he managed to get himself in to?

* * *

Now that Tabito was safely snuggled onto the bed of his room back in the guild base of Ainz Ooal Gown, Suzuki backed away a few paces.

Tabito was still sleeping, owing to the fact that they had been gentle while transporting him.

The only other inhabitants of the room were Albedo, Hiroshi, and Solution Epsilon.

Solution had been brought along because they needed someone to watch over Tabito twenty four hours until he woke up, and to take care of anything he needed. Also she already was up to date about the whole deal with the guild members being human so they didn't have to explain it to anyone else.

Suzuki still felt several deep pangs of guilt for taking Tabito away like this, and he could only imagine the pandemonium that would ensue once Tabito came to his senses and realized where he was.

"I've realized something, Suzuki," Hiroshi said.

"Ah, yes?" Suzuki asked, his train of thought now interrupted.

"Well, shouldn't we do something about Nigredo?" Hiroshi asked. "Albedo is fine with leaving him like this, but what if Nigredo gets wind of it?"

Suzuki simply said, "Then we don't tell her about it."

"Well, yes, but she was the one who saw him in the first place," Hiroshi said. 'Who says she won't find him again just out of curiosity wondering how he's doing?" Given how much attention Solution showered on him, it wouldn't be something completely impossible.

"Ah, the guild has defenses against that kind of magic," Suzuki said. "She probably only saw him since he was outside."

"But are you sure friendly fire is enabled even for that kind of spell?" Hiroshi asked.

Suzuki pondered it for a moment. If up till now, it turned out that friendly fire was on, it would mean that most likely it was also on for divination type spells. Though they couldn't be one hundred percent sure of that. Additionally, given that Nigredo was still inside the guild itself there was a chance that its defenses would not work.

Even worse for Suzuki was that this conversation led his thoughts to the one place he did not want them to go- namely the fact that the reason that Nigredo was such a problem while Albedo wasn't was because he had tampered with her character sheet. What was Tabito going to say when he woke up and found that out? Granted, it was a joke and Suzuki had not known the consequences at the time, but in a way, Suzuki had tarnished Tabito's creation.

Given that, how would have Albedo reacted to this scene if he had not done that to tamper with her character sheet? Would she have defended her creator, or perhaps tried to prevent them from taking (Suzuki tried hard not think of it as 'kidnapping') him away like this?

"If you would permit it, Momonga-sama," Albedo said. "I would propose that for now, we imprison her within the Frozen Prison and have several powerful vassals guard over her to make sure that she cannot escape."

"Eh? Is that really necessary Albedo?" Suzuki asked. Her callousness surprised him- he assumed that Albedo must think of Nigredo as a sister, but it appeared there was no love lost between the two.

"It would not do for her to betray you, Momonga-sama," Albedo said. "As such, such harsh measures are absolutely necessary, unless of course you would simply wish her executed. It would be far simpler and would cost fewer resources."

Now this chilled Hiroshi too. From what he had seen up till now, especially at the bar, the NPCs all seemed to get along pretty well with each other. "There is another idea though- we could just send her outside the guild base. That World Class item of ours prevents anyone from looking into the guild from the outside."

"Send her where though? We can't let her be spotted outside," Suzuki said.

"Well, we could just send her to my apartment and tell her it needs cleaning," Hiroshi said.

In response to this, Solution turned her head so fast it was almost unnatural. "Herohero-sama, I beg of you, if there is a task such as cleaning your room that is required, please permit me to do so. It would be the greatest honor!"

"Uh, my apartment doesn't really need cleaning," Hiroshi said, now rubbing the back of his head apologetically. She seemed so eager it felt like a shame to refuse her. "It's just a dumb task I'm giving out to keep Nigredo busy."

Dumb tasks with no other purpose than to make people look busy were nothing new to Suzuki, so he thought it was a fairly decent idea. Especially when compared to Albedo's alternative.

"Alright then, Solution, do you have the necessary tools?" Suzuki asked.

"Indeed, Momonga-sama," Solution said and bowed. She was far more formal and serious while addressing Suzuki than she was while addressing Hiroshi. She had added several scrolls to her inventory which were spells that she could use to safely restrain Tabito in case it was necessary. Granted, she already could keep humans prisoner for several days, but none of them wanted to subject Tabito to something like that.

Instead she had scrolls with the spells **Charm **as well as **Sleep **on them, allowing her to contain Tabito if he got too aggressive without hurting him.

As far as Hiroshi could tell she would obey their orders over any that Tabito would give her. This was either because Suzuki was Guild Leader, or that Hiroshi was her creator. He didn't want to think too deeply about what would happen if he and Suzuki gave her conflicting orders.

"With that taken care of, I think I should give Nigredo a visit," Hiroshi said.

Suzuki then felt a mental _Ting! _in his head as someone used a **Message **spell to contact him- it was Pestonya.

'Momonga-sama, shall I prepare the humans for your speech?'

Oh right, he had told Takeshi he would address all of them and explain what was happening.

Suzuki told her to tell them to wait for half an hour. He didn't want to leave Hiroshi alone. And though he didn't admit it to himself, he also didn't want to face a crowd all alone by himself.

"It's no problem, I can handle it myself," Hiroshi said.

"Do you remember what you have to do before you enter her room?" Suzuki asked him.

Now that Hiroshi thought about it, he couldn't remember the exact sequence of steps you had to take before entering her room. It was something involving dolls. "No. Do you still remember?"

"Yes," Suzuki said.

"Even after all this time..." Hiroshi muttered to himself, awed at how dedicated Suzuki had been to the game. There was probably no one else in the game as dedicated to the game as Suzuki was.

They teleported to the Frozen Prison. Normally a damaging wind would be present in the area, but Suzuki had turned it off as it cost gold and he had no current way to get any more. Sadly, in Yggdrasil there were no classes that could make or farm gold from nothing.

It was still super chilly though, and Hiroshi shuddered. Suzuki rummaged in his inventory and tossed him a cloak. It was not a rather impressive item by Yggdrasil standards, but it shielded from cold. Someone like Suzuki would have no real use for such an item, it was just something he had forgotten to store while collecting. It turned out that being a hoarder in game had its advantages.

They approached Nigredo's room.

"Ah, you have to take a doll right?" Hiroshi asked.

"Well, that's only assuming she's in her room," Suzuki said. "If she's still overseeing the members of the Kenpeitai, then she'll be somewhere else and we won't need to do this. But if she's currently inside after having finished her duties..."

"Right," Hiroshi said and picked up a doll.

Nigredo, however, was in the room.

She was there in her usual position- cradling what appeared to be a baby in her arms as she sobbed. "My baby... what happened... something's not right..."

She then turned to look at the two visitors. "You two! You took my baby!"

Up until now, her face had been covered by her long hair.

But, it was when she ran towards them with scissors in her hand and her face was revealed to them that Hiroshi lost himself.

Granted, he knew what was going to happen- but that face, those eyes and teeth without any skin! It had been horrifying enough to see that in game, but in real life, there was only one way his mouth could describe it.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Hiroshi screamed, dropped the doll he was carrying, and made a run for the exit.

This immediately alarmed Suzuki as he had neglected to pick up a doll himself, meaning that he only had a few seconds to react with his rather low dexterity.

He put himself between the two of them, picked up the doll, and showed it to Nigredo just as the scissors were about to make contact with him.

"Here's your baby," he said.

Behind him, Hiroshi was sweating and panting. "Damn Tabula... I don't feel bad at all for taking him away now... man... that was... intense..."

Though it was rather inappropriate for the situation, Suzuki found the whole thing rather funny but had to work hard to try and suppress his laughter until seconds later when a strange calmness came over him and that fleeting moment of happiness was gone now. He would have no trouble not laughing anymore.

"What can I do for you, Momonga-sama?" Nigredo asked, bowing and seeming unaware of the effect she had had on Hiroshi.

"Oh, we have a job for you Nigredo," Suzuki said. "You are to go towards Herohero's apartment and stand sentry there."

She cocked her head quizzically to look at Hiroshi. Hiroshi shuddered- her face was indeed a thousand times worse in reality than it had been in game. And in game, it had been so horrible everyone had started attacking her the moment they saw her.

"Is that Herohero-sama?" she asked rather cutely in a voice which didn't at all match what she had done earlier. She asked it as if she had no idea what she had done wrong just now- which Suzuki considered was a possibility.

"Indeed," Suzuki said.

"Pardon me for asking this, but would not someone else be better suited to such a job of guard duty rather than myself?" she asked.

"Ah..." Suzuki said, before he got a lightbulb moment. "This is a training exercise- we wish to see if you can perform this duty well. You are to remain inside his apartment at all times, and to avoid contact with any other humans."

"I see. I will not fail you, Momonga-sama, or you, Herohero-sama," Nigredo said and inclined her head.

"Go ahead and see Albedo," Suzuki said. "She'll tell you about the details of the mission and also teleport you to the required place."

He then remembered something. "Ah, Albedo wouldn't know the location. In that case, I'll make the **Gate **spell to take you there."

"There is no need for one such as yourself to exert such effort for myself," Nigredo replied with her head still lowered.

Suzuki felt like sighing. All of this bowing and prostrating was beginning to get on his nerves.

For one, it felt odd, especially given that Hiroshi was right next to him. Granted, the NPCs did treat him but they seemed to put Suzuki on an extremely high pedestal.

Moreover, it wasted a lot of time.

"No, no, it is nothing," Suzuki said and put a firm grip on Nigredo's shoulder, letting him teleport her outside the Tomb from where he could open a **Gate **spell. He would have also invited Hiroshi to join in, but he looked like he needed a minute.

As the ring activated, the world around him went black for an instant.

* * *

The PDL's journey in the strange machine known as a 'helicopter' was uneventful to say the least.

Or at least, it was for him.

It honestly just made him wonder why none of these people had thought to use a spell such as **Greater Teleportation **to reach their leader.

Was it the case that one could not teleport to where they were going? One could not teleport directly into the castle of the Eight Greed Kings as it was a guild base.

However, as over two hours passed, he reasoned that an anti-teleportation spell could simply not cover such a large area that they would have to fly for so long. Even in case of a teleportation-blocking barrier one could always teleport to the edge of the barrier and enter in from there.

Or was it that in this world, teleportation was completely blocked?

As he did not know about this- and did not want to reveal his potential ignorance, he kept quiet.

Still, did they have to fly so slow? He could outstrip the speed of this machine, even using his armor and not in his actual body. Or did perhaps some of the soldiers not know any spells that would let them fly?

While PDL was preoccupied with these thoughts, he barely noticed the strange looks and calls going around him. Given that he was not human, he had some difficulty reading human expressions and so was blissfuly ignorant of what was going on in the heads of the other soldiers.

After what felt like an eternity, the machine finally touched down on the earth.

As PDL emerged, he was blocked by a guard.

"I'm sorry, pal, but given the situation, we would like to see your face," he said.

PDL thought about it for a moment before choosing to wing it.

"Forgive me, but my warrior code forbids me from revealing my face," PDL said.

The man took a step back.

"Ah, like a luchador, huh?" he asked.

"Beg pardon, for I do not know what a 'luchador' is," PDL said.

"Ah, well," the guard stammered, seemingly unsure of what to do now.

There was yet another agonizingly long delay as the guard seemed to want to ask his superiors what to do.

Finally, the guard said, "I'm sorry, but we just cannot let someone walk up to our President without knowing their details first."

"I understand that might be usual protocol, but can you not make an exception just this once?" PDL asked.

"Sorry, no can do," the guard said. "If it is that much of an issue, we can take you back all the way to your HQ and you can send someone else who doesn't have the- uh, restrictions that you have."

PDL suppressed his urge to punch the man in the face.

In his old world, there were numerless species and cultures within each species. As such, interactions between two civilization which had never met each other were not exactly rare.

As such, one would need to be extra careful when encountering another country for the first time. History was filled with countless tales of countries being destroyed because they had messed up and violated another countries' beliefs in some manner.

However, given the circumstances, PDL supposed he had no other choice other than to go back. He lifted his helmet- and the guard was surprised to see that there was no one inside.

"I am this armor," he said. "My soul is infused into it."

"Uh huh, right," the guard said, nonplussed. He didn't make any remarks on how PDL had lied to him just a few minutes prior and seemed to have forgotten about it entirely.

Outside, PDL could see that the sky in this part of the world was also blighted. In front of them was a building which the others referred to as the 'White House.'

Well, it might have been white once upon a time, but as PDL saw it he could only see a hideous shade of brown.

What followed was another barrage of (to him at least) completely useless procedures.

No, he had no idea what a 'fingerprint' was and this led to a delay of ten minutes. Neither could he provide a 'DNA sample' in any shape or form.

Many people assumed that dragons, given their long lifespans, were creatures that possessed great patience. That was only partly true. As a matter of fact, one could not even call their patience true patience, but rather laziness. A dragon could easily lay atop a mountain of treasure for centuries without feeling the need to stretch his wings- but on the other hand, if their attention was brought to some matter, especially if it was something important, than they could be more inpatient than even the most entitled of human nobles.

As such, these delays were very tiring, but he managed to keep up the facade long enough to be led to a room where there was a group of people standing behind a wall made of glass.

It looked fragile- like he could destroy it with a single punch, but he could not be sure until he tested it.

The only one on the other side who was sitting was an old man. He was dressed in a suit rather than the armor the others wore.

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you. I would offer to shake your hand, but ah, well, security protocols and all," the man said.

Even though he was in his armor, his ears were still about as good as that of a dragon's. As such, he had picked up on various things that these humans most likely had assumed he had not heard. Granted he filtered most of it all out given half of it was in code anyway, but he did pay attention to the parts he felt were relevant.

One was how they addressed their leader- it was important that he greet them properly.

"I understand, Mr. President," PDL said. "On behalf of my country, and my lord, the Platinum Dragon Lord, I, Riku Aganeia, greet you."

"Ah," the old man said. 'Well, on behalf of the United States, I too would like to extend a warm welcome. Ah, the first matter I would like to discuss is the matter of your flying fortress which is encroaching on our air space."

"I apologize, and so does the Platinum Dragon Lord," PDL said. "It was not by our choice that we were transported here, rather, we originate from Vanaheim."

"Ah, right, from Yggdrasil, right?" the president answered.

The way he said that raised doubts in PDL's mind. He talked about it as if he had never heard the name before.

"Pardon me, but are we not in Yggdrasil?" PDL asked.

"Oh, we kind of are," the president said. "Only thing is we sort of don't think of ourselves as belonging to Yggdrasil. We are called Midgard."

PDL was unsure of what to think of this. "What do you mean, that you don't think of yourselves as part of Yggdrasil?"

"Well, we kind of never had heard of these other worlds before," the president said. "Only in myths and legends. And truth be told, we do not know about this magic that you demonstrated, until a few days back at least."

He then turned to a stack of sheets. PDL did not recognize the script, though he was rather unfamiliar with the scripts that humans had developed in the last three hundred years or so. "A few days ago, a strange wall of light enveloped the world, and people all over our country- and other countries as well, suddenly developed magical powers. It's been a real doozy, I tell ya, trying to rope everyone in. People are out on the streets believing that the end of the world is near. In other countries the secret police are snooping around imprisoning people- we can't do that here. Not in this day and age at least."

"Interestingly enough, the timeline seems to coincide with when we were transported here," PDL said. "Though as I have said earlier, we were not responsible for this phenomenon."

PDL was unsure of what to believe. The words this man were speaking- they contradicted everything regarding what he knew about Yggdrasil. If he was telling the truth, was this some sort of hidden world in Yggdrasil but separate from it?

"Can you take me back to Vanaheim? I mean, all of my people, of course," PDL said.

"Uh, no, sorry. I was actually hoping that perhaps you would know a way to cross realms," the president said.

"Ah, so you know of other worlds but cannot travel there?" PDL asked.

"Indeed," the president said. "Now, what exactly are your intentions now that you are in this world?"

"Oh, we come in peace," PDL answered. "We have no intention of declaring war on your people- or the other people of Midgard. We would only be interested in going back home."

The president relaxed a little. "Ah, that's excellent."

"Is it a problem if we continue remain where we are for the time being?" PDL asked.

"I suppose so, though I'll need to iron out a few details with Congress first," the president said. He muttered under his breath, though PDL could still hear him, "Imagine what I'm gonna tell them."

"Ah, regarding this matter, I think it would be good for us to communicate some more," the president said. "I would like to meet your leader in person."

"That can be arranged," PDL said. "I am certain he will be happy to welcome you."

"Well, thank you," the president said. "Though as you can understand, we are kind of busy here and I just got a call from someone else. Can I get you a room or-"

"That is not an issue," PDL said. "I can return in an instant with magic."

Though these people might not have magic, it occurred to PDL that perhaps this 'science' of theirs compensated for that. As such, he did not want to end up offending them. Spells such as **Charm **and **Dominate **could not be used to get to the truth.

As it was, he was certain they were hiding something, much as he was currently.

"Ah, well, we can arrange for an escort for you-" the president said.

"There is no need," PDL said. His patience was now exhausted as he cast **Greater Teleportation **to leave the place.

To his surprise, there was nothing getting in the way of his spell as went back to his base.

As it was, he had a new mission to get to now.

* * *

As PDL had disappeared, the room where he had been was in shock understandably.

Once he was sure that the strange armored man was no longer around, he then pressed a button to make a call.

A woman who was about ten years younger than him answered.

"Madam President, I hope you heard all that went on?" he asked.

The woman, who was the sixth in history to hold the title of President of the United States while being a woman nodded her head. "Indeed I did, Gerald. Do you think he fell for it?"

"Seems so," Gerald answered. "I don't know anyone who doesn't know who the President is, nor the fact that this isn't the White House. It seems he really is from a different world or planet."

They were somewhere in California.

"Not to mention," Gerald said. "I don't think the Chinese or the Russians have access to magical dragons, or we'd get to know a lot sooner."

"Have you thought about the fact that it isn't a dragon?" the president asked. "It could be an animatronic. I've taken my grandkids to Disney World- you wouldn't believe the details on some of the machines. And I'm far more inclined to believe that armor is just a drone rather than the soul of someone fused to metal."

"And about the magic then?" Gerald asked.

The president was silent at that.

"Either way, let me go ahead and meet this dragon on your behalf," Gerald said. "Though I got to tell you, Madam President, the thought of Vanaheim being real..."

"Indeed," the president said. She had been forced to take a class on the subject rather unwillingly given that it was a graduation requirement for them to take some sort of course in mythology. "I do believe that is the realm of the gods."

"I thought that was Asgard," Gerald said.

"No, there was another tribe of gods- the Vanir, which lived there," she said and shook her head as she figured most people were only familiar with the Aesir- the Norse Gods which Odin led. "I'm still rusty on the details, I'm getting every single professor in Norse mythology to start briefing us soon."

"Understood."

"How dangerous do you think these people from the..." the president shuffled through some messages. "...Argland Council State are?"

"If they can disappear and reappear whenever they want, very," Gerald said. "Especially given we have no clue what they are capable of." He smiled. "Though perhaps- if we went ahead and found a way to train people in magic, we could find a way to counter them."

"No one's been able to teleport yet," the president said. "Heal wounds, make fireballs, cast lightning, summon monsters and angels- yes, but no teleportation." She then paused. 'There was this one person though- who could turn invisible. Could it be he's still in the room with you- only you can't see him?"

"Heat sensors and radar detect no other life forms in this room," Gerald answered. "I think we're safe in that front."

The president shook her head. "Oh no, we're not safe. I don't think we'll be or feel safe for a very long time."

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**I don't really have anything else that I want to say right now. Anyway, am always glad to know what you guys thought. Until next time!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Someone (one of my reviewers who leaves reviews in Spanish) mentioned the idea of introducing a concept whereby magic causes electromagnetic disturbances, and so messes around with technology.**

**I have to say, that could work in a way. A lot of stories do have elements like that- there was this Dragon Tales/Eragon crossover fanfic a couple of years back that I read [yeah I know that kind of crossover is weird, but it kind of made sense] and there's also this thing in Harry Potter where scientific objects, for some reason, go haywire around magic.**

**Only thing is that it's been established as canon within the universe of Overlord in the Evileye sidestory that science does exist in their ****universe, just that magic is so good no one bothers with it.**

**So I'm not sure how I'll handle this magic/science dichotomy in this fanfic. I do have some ideas, but the ideas might be loosened at some point.**

**Many of you have been asking as to whether or not Momonga will regain a human body. I don't want to spoil too much but there will be a plot point where he leans towards it rather soon.**

* * *

There were several things that police movies and television shows usually got wrong.

Granted, Hayato still watched them anyway, but he couldn't help but shake his head internally when he got to the more unrealistic parts.

One of such things were regarding interrogation techniques.

There were lots of ways the media showed the police finding out how a suspect was lying. Lie detectors, their body language, even voice analysis sometimes. There was even a company that was developing a special type of MRI that was supposed to be able to tell when a person was lying or not- but as of yet there was no conclusive evidence this actually worked.

In truth these methods were more or less useless. Lie detectors only worked because people believed they did, and in this modern age no one was that stupid. Torture, even if it was allowed, was also objectively rather poor at getting the truth out and was as equally likely to get you lies.

There was only one tested way that Hayato knew which worked- which he was using as Draudillon was spilling the beans about her story.

A liar wouldn't be able to keep their stories consistent. You would take that person's story one day, record it, and then grill them about the exact same incident several weeks later. You would focus on the small details, like what color shirt a person was wearing. You might even go ahead and tell them a false detail while repeating their story to them to see if they slip up and agree with you.

All of this took time. Days, even weeks perhaps. Time that Hayato really didn't have.

He did however hear Draudillon's entire story a total of three times from beginning to end. He frequently interrupted her, which was clearly beginning to annoy her, but a stern look from him whenever she was about to protest silenced her.

He would never have believed the story she was telling in normal circumstances were it not for the fact that she had transformed from a little girl to a grown woman right before his eyes.

She had even turned back into a little girl as well and back again.

"So tell me about this magic system again," Hayato said. "You're saying that you can't actually use magic?"

"Not Tier Magic," she said with an exasperated sigh. She had explained this particular thing twenty times over. "Just Wild Magic. But there are other people who can use Tier Magic."

It was this part that stuck out at Hayato. The magic system that she described was remarkably similar to the ones in Yggdrasil, though according to her magic beyond the eighth tier did not exist. Magic systems like that were not things that were unique to Yggdrasil though, so it was possible she was making it up.

However, the monsters that she described such as goblins and undead also were remarkably similar to those found within Yggdrasil and matched the lore given in the game as well, though once again, such things were hardly unique to Yggdrasil, a game which borrowed heavily from other games.

"So what you're telling me is that you're actually from another world," Hayato said. "A world where you were the Queen of a nation, a world where magic and dragons exist, and somehow you found yourself here suddenly?"

"Yes," Draudillon said. She had her own doubts- this man was telling her that magic didn't exist in this world.

But that was impossible. From what she could tell, this city was made up of at least a million people. If that were true, how could a city this city get its clean water and food without the use of magic?

In the end, Hayato was unsure of what he should think. On the one hand, if anyone told him such a story on the street he would assume they were addicted to crack or something. On the other hand he couldn't turn out of hand the evidence he saw with his eyes.

The more important question at hand was what he intended to do now with her.

He rummaged his shirt instinctively- a habit he had developed earlier when he was looking for a cigarette. Of course he didn't find any- he had quit a very long time ago. Even the stress of his divorce had not been able to tempt him back into that old habit, but this was just something out of this world.

Before he could make a decision though, his phone began ringing. With a jolt, he looked towards the window and saw that the sun was quite high up in the sky right now.

It must have been at least eight in the morning. How engrossed had he been with this woman's story? No doubt this must have been a call from work.

Oh wait- it was a video call from his soon to be ex-wife. And it was only half past seven, meaning there was still time to get ready for work, though no time for sleep at all.

"I need you to hide in another room," he said to Draudillon. He didn't want to explain to his soon to be ex-wife why there was a strange woman in his kitchen.

When he accepted the call what greeted him was the adorable face of his daughter. Despite his fatigue, he did his best to put on a smile.

In the corner of the screen there was a woman peering out towards him, though mostly hidden. And Hayato would prefer that it remained that way.

"Hello Papa!" she said.

"Hello!" he replied, smiling. "How're you doing?"

"I'm good," she said and pouted. "I wanted to see you though!"

"Yeah, me too," Hayato said and sighed.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look kind of tired."

"Uh, well, there's some work sweetie," he said with a smile. "You know."

"Oh, because of the qua-quack-uh," she said, struggling to say the word 'quarantine.'

"Yeah, because of that we're kind of busy," he said. "But you know what? The moment this is all over, we can go ahead and meet up."

"Promise?"

"I promise," he said.

At the moment, _she _moved into sight, and as gently as possible told his daughter that her father probably needed to get to work and ended the conversation.

Hayato let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in, and then realized that right now his priority should be getting to work if he didn't want to get fired. On any other day he would've been able to call in sick, but with the quarantine going on he doubted something like that would be entertained unless he said he was sick with the virus going around.

He shuddered as he contemplated what would happen to him in such a case.

Anyway, losing his job was the last thing this week needed so he dragged himself together to get ready.

Meanwhile, Draudillon Oriculus had been in the next room with he ear pressed up against the wall. Although she was a Dragon Lord technically, her senses were only as good as that of a human's. As such, she only heard Hayato's side of the conversation as the volume of the replies was too low for her to catch anything regarding it. She briefly wondered why the man was talking to himself before realizing he must be communicating with someone.

"Ah, right," he said as he peered his head around the corner to glance at her. "I'm going to be honest- I do not believe in dragons and magic or whatever, but at this time I'm just too exhausted to even really bother doing anything about you. Just- just stay here if you want, we'll talk more in the evening."

He knew this was rather irresponsible, but he was too tired to argue at this point. Draudillon seemed to be quite relaxed at this. She was safe it seemed- at least for now.

"Please don't out me to the authorities though," she said. "Whoever brought me to this world- if it was a person they must be looking for me."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Hayato said, stifling a yawn. It was going to be a long day- he had not pulled an all-nighter in years and he knew how brutal it was going to be. He was going to need lots of coffee.

As he pulled up to the station he noticed there was a lot more activity that there usually was.

While it was common for workers to be whipped within an inch of their lives while working for a Megacorp, working for the government was far more relaxing.

It looked like they had pulled in every single off-duty copper for the job today. He even saw some people he had never seen before.

Of course, he had heard rumors about them. Cops who had managed to fake their paperwork into showing they were disabled and so didn't bother showing up and still collected a paycheck. These were people who usually had connections to people in high places.

But it seems that didn't help them at all with whatever the government had gotten itself into. There were even trainees from the Police Academy there- what appeared to be those in their last months of training. Every single Badge in the city seemed to have been called in.

"Hey Hayato! You look sleepy!" one of his colleagues shouted out to him.

"She keep you up all night?" someone he didn't recognize added and the people near him roared with laughter.

For a second, Hayato thought that he had been found out and his heart skipped a beat before realizing that they must have been talking about his mistress. He just wore a tired smile and went on with his day.

Today it seemed he would be freed from his usual patrols and was assigned a desk job. He would have normally found this to be unbearable, but given his current state he couldn't have asked for anything better.

He got up almost every hour to refill his mug with coffee, and it was during one of these trips that an epiphany suddenly hit him.

Draudillon had not been the only one who had told him something crazy. There had also been the boss of that company- but he was dead now. What had he talked about again? Demons?

Draudillon had never mentioned demons, so he couldn't be sure that the two were connected somehow.

He would just have to ask her when he got back.

This wasn't the only thing that struck him as odd. He realized that none of the officers, at least those gathered here, were wearing protective equipment. They weren't even giving out hand sanitizer or cleaning solution. Plus, they had gone ahead and packed them all quite tightly in the morning.

If there really was a virus going around they seemed to be doing very little to combat it.

* * *

After Hachiman had dinner he briefly considered his position in the world. As he looked around as his army of demons, he had come to an idea: he was going to have to conquer the world.

It was only a natural conclusion to draw.

Eventually the government or someone else would catch wind of his powers and try to take them.

When that happened, he could either hide himself somewhere, far away from civilization. Either that, or he could form his own country. A nation of demons which would be able to protect him... would it be possible? He had no idea how effective some of mankind's more advanced weaponry were against his magic.

Perhaps you would think this was just his Eighth Grade Syndrome working up again- but no. This time, he was quite one hundred percent serious.

He had seen no evidence that anyone else had gotten any items from Yggdrasil. If they had, they would have certainly tried to stop him. He could only assume that for some reason, destiny itself had chosen him and him alone to wield the power of Yggdrasil.

In his mind's eye, he could see the utopia that he would build for himself and the chosen few he would let in his country. Mankind could live easily off the magic of demons as their ailments would be cured, food would be provided with, and security was guaranteed.

Surely, if he had the ability to construct such a world, he should? It was clearly his duty to do so.

He might even be able to conquer the rest of the world given enough time.

But enough of those thoughts for now, he reasoned as he went to his bed. It was time to sleep.

Normally he would have trouble falling asleep as he spent so much time obsessing over Bellriver's 'dissapearance' but this night he slept like a baby.

One thing that contributed to this was that he was quite exhausted after the day's events.

The more important thing was that he was being watched over by his army of demons- it was like sleeping under the watch of his own personal guardian angels.

This would-be world conquering dictator got up in the morning to make himself a cup of ramen. Hardly the breakfast of kings- but he didn't want to bother with actually making something.

Come to think of it, he probably didn't have anything besides that anyway in his apartment.

He remembered there were spells in Yggdrasil which allowed you to make food. He would've liked to try something of what his soldiers could make, but for now he would stick with what he knew.

As he got ready, he flipped through the channels on his television. Nothing new- there was no reports on him for that matter which made him frown. He would've loved to see a low resolution image of him in a mask on national television, but it was the same old message that the quarantine was ongoing.

Oh?

The Prime Minister was making an address to the nation, which he figured he might as well listen to.

Ten minutes in and he switched the television off. It was waffle, all of it.

Just generic stuff asking the people of Japan to stay strong against this new virus, telling people to stay indoors as long as possible, and more stuff that by now Hachiman was sure was a lie.

He had never, as a part of his inquisition, found any evidence of there actually being a virus. The so-called 'disease' hadn't even been named up till now and they were pretty vague on what the symptoms were. It was clearly a coverup, and the fact that it occurred on the very day he found the World Class Item did make him wonder if the two were connected somehow, or if the government was up to some completely different shenanigans.

As it was though, he had no time to listen to propaganda.

Only thing was that he had no idea where to go now. He had exhausted all leads, which all went to the company that had built Yggdrasil.

Only thing was that it appeared that everyone there was dead.

As for grabbing their data and running with it, he could do that. But then he'd need to find someone capable of breaking their encryption.

He was pretty sure that people such as that existed, but he had no way to get in contact with such people.

In that case, the only option would be for him to randomly go around to various criminal headquarters until one of them gave him a name of someone who could help him.

That certainly didn't seem appealing.

Or... he had not yet experimented with resurrection magic yet. Up till now, it appeared that all spells from Yggdrasil worked much like they did in the game. Even healing magic. If resurrection magic worked as well, he could try it on some of the dead employees.

He asked around once to see what the others knew about resurrection magic.

Using the eighth tier spell **Soul-Bought Miracle **they could replicate any eighth tier spell that they wanted. As such, resurrection was technically possible. However, they told him that if tried to use it on someone too weak they would burn to ash.

Still, this seemed to be a better plan than anything else he had on mind.

He teleported outside the building they had been in last night. It was sealed off, but one of his demons had a racial ability and could go invisible and scouted out the place. Hachiman sadly did not have an ability such as **Necromantic Slave Sight **and so couldn't see what his summons saw, but the demon reported that as of now, the bodies were still there and were guarded by only a few people.

There were a few armored vehicles in sight however. But, for now he and his army were well concealed thanks to magic. As such, he was rather confidant he could break in and out rather easily. But once they were inside, the alarm would be rung and then they would begin to have a problem.

In that case, they would only have a few minutes to act.

Hachiman sent a mental command to his summons. They would go in, and grab two corpses to take back with them. Meanwhile, Hachiman himself would look for any storage devices that they could take with them.

With the plan understood by all, the spell **Gate **was cast and they were once again inside the room.

Hachiman, out of the corner of his eye saw that there was someone taking photographs of the crime scene. But, he had no time for that.

Some of his demons formed a literal wall between him and the others, while he looked around and pointed to two people and told them to grab them.

These two people were both very old men, so Hachiman assumed that they were the most senior of the employees there and most likely to know something. There were a few storage devices he could see which were put into bags labelled as 'evidence' which he also told them to grab.

By the time anyone figured out what was going on they were already out of there.

Rather than go back to his apartment, he instead had them go to an abandoned building that was three streets away from his home address.

The way that summons worked was that they shared their knowledge with the summoner, as such they could teleport to any location that he knew about even if they had never visited it themselves.

As he glanced at the faces of the two people he had taken, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for them. He was only human after all for now- he had asked his soldiers if there was a way for him to change his race into that of a demon, but they didn't know of any such spell. There were items that could change one's race but he didn't have access to them. Of course there were multiple sets of such items within the vaults of his guild base...

He paused what he was doing for a second. Did he obtain this item through chance- or was it because he knew about Yggdrasil? Could it be that maybe, one of his other guild members had also chanced upon an item such as this one?

In that case, he should definitely go and pay them a visit. He did know the address of a few of them, with Suzuki Satoru being one of them. However, just knowing an address was not good enough if one wanted to teleport to a location. But maybe Google Maps could help him with that? He wasn't sure if an aerial view was good enough.

But enough about that. Time for the moment of truth!

One of his demons first cast **Soul-Bought Miracle **to use the eighth tier spell **Greater ****Resurrection** while Hachiman waited with bated breath.

To his disappointment however, the body turned to ash.

He felt a slight pang of guilt- though the man was already dead, and if resurrection failed, that meant nothing could be done about it, there was still the point that this man might've had relatives who would've liked to perform the last rites on his body who would not get the chance now.

No matter though. It was only a minor grievance.

This was why he had grabbed two of them, after all.

"Do it on that one," he ordered.

Unfortunately, he got the same result. The body turned to ash.

"Shall we go back and get some more?" one of the demons asked him, sensing his displeasure and predicting what he was thinking.

"N-no," Hachiman said. "They'll be ready for us this time, and I'm not bulletproof. Maybe it just isn't possible."

If two people couldn't be brought back and burned to ashes, it was likely it would happen to the others as well. At least their trip wasn't totally in vain, he still had the bags of evidence.

Before randomly knocking on- or rather, knocking down people's doors however, he thought that now would be a good time to see how his other guild mates were handling things.

Even if they hadn't gotten supernatural powers like he had, he would still obviously want to let them join the paradise that he intended to make.

First stop then would be Suzuki Satoru's apartment.

* * *

Hayato thought that the day was going to come to a boring close- nothing he didn't mind- when his phone began ringing and he was told to move to an address as soon as possible.

What made him sit up straight was the fact that the word 'demons' had been said a couple of times in the conversation.

Funnily enough the address belonged to the game company that had designed Yggdrasil. They were calling in quite a lot of officers to the scene, he noticed.

So many as a matter of fact that they weren't even giving out Biohazard suits to all of them.

* * *

When the Platinum Dragon Lord, in his armor, got back to his base he immediately set back out.

The thing was that he was quite sure that these Americans were hiding something from him. He had no idea why or what exactly, but he couldn't exactly confront them directly.

He did however, need to go ahead and do some intelligence gathering of his own.

People who remained ignorant did not usually get information from the villains as stories often told- they usually just died while remaining ignorant.

He did not know if the Americans were keeping surveillance on his guild base- they had taken their machinery away but it was possible that they had access to powerful divination spells which he could not counter.

As such, he had to have a story as to why he was suddenly wandering throughout their territory.

Well, on the one hand, he could always point out that they had never explicitly forbidden him from venturing outside of the guild base.

But such behavior would no doubt look suspicious to even the most benevolent of eyes.

The only real excuse that he could find himself to muster up was that perhaps he would pretend that the guild base needed some resource, such as fresh water, and he had merely gone to fetch some. If they asked why they hadn't contacted the Americans, he would point out the fact that none of them were around and he didn't feel it necessary to trouble them with such a small request.

With that in mind, he kept teleporting to as far as he could see until he finally came across a large landmass. Large enough that he could not see the ocean on the other side of it, even with his keen vision.

Despite the height at which his armor was flying, with his keen senses including eyesight which would put that of a hawk's to shame, he could very easily make out nearly everything that was happening down below.

He saw a settlement and stopped to fly near it.

He was unable to use any magic that would conceal oneself without the use of magic items, and as such, he hid himself in the woods near the cottage.

It was a fairly unremarkable structure, but his attention was drawn to the two people who were talking to each other.

Though his vision somewhat was obstructed by the tree line, his hearing was unimpeded.

After ten minutes though it was clear that his spying was not going to actually yield anything. From the sounds of their voices, both of them were at most adolescents. They were talking about a certain boy that the two of them seemed to like.

He had no time for teenage drama and so flew off as stealthily as he could manage. It would be easy to teleport back, but he had not gotten any useful information yet, and it felt like a waste of time to go back without having anything to show for it.

He went further and further onwards until he came upon what looked to be a small town.

Here he had a bit of a different problem- namely now there were far too many people for him to possibly hone onto any conversation.

When he could, the majority of them were about mundane topics that he could find no interest it.

There was a rather more obvious solution in which he would go and talk to one of them- but how would he explain this strange suit of armor? No one was wearing anything even remotely like it.

Plus it would seem odd if he just started randomly asking basic questions.

He needed some sort of a lead- but where?

It was as he was contemplating this that he saw something in the distance which caught his eye. Was that- an Archangel Flame?

It was not too odd for there to be one if this was Yggdrasil. However, based on what their President had said, these were all people who had just gotten their powers.

The summoner appeared to be a young boy who was playing by himself, unattended, in an open field.

The Platinum Dragon Lord, in his armor, descended to meet the boy.

He seemed shocked and backed away a few paces. That was until he sized up the Platinum Dragon Lord and said, "Hey Mister! Great costume there!"

"Costume?"

* * *

Takeshi was now sleeping far more peacefully than any of the other humans being kept in Nazarick. He sort of knew what was going on- even if it made no real sense at all, so he was relatively calm.

In the morning, they had all be herded out of the places they were staying to once again meet the dog face maid. Right, her name was Pestonya. She was an NPC- and from what he knew, this was far from the weirdest NPC he had ever seen in Yggdrasil. He assumed that the dog face probably was modeled after someone's actual dog.

Some of the people, understandably, did a double-take when they saw that there were some more people with them.

Even Takeshi recognized the girl who had been shot dead and he shuddered.

"Greetings," Pestonya said. "With us here are some new guests- these fellow humans of yours had been killed off, but thankfully with the approval of the Supreme Beings of Nazarick they have been brought back to life."

Several panicked voices emerged, though Takeshi was not one of them. He had been expecting this to an extent- so ressuruction also worked in this world?

As one might understand, the other people being... well, 'held hostage' was a bit of a an exaggeration, even if that was how a good portion of them felt- were rather horrified that something such as resurruction could exist.

It was easier for a lot of them to simply believe that they were being lied to, but Takeshi could tell that they were going to break soon.

He hadn't told anyone what had happened last night, no matter how much they asked, as he didn't want to risk worsening the situation.

Unless Suzuki came to calm things down, tensions were most likely going to escalate.

While they had not been treated terribly, it was highly unlikely, in Takeshi's opinion, that the others would stand for a situation like this to persist for more than a few more days.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**I don't really have anything else that I want to say right now. Anyway, am always glad to know what you guys thought. Until next time!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Wow! It's been some time since I last updated, and it seems that there are quite a lot of thoughts on what I've written.  
**

**First of all, regarding the science/magic confusion- I have to disagree with a premise someone threw out there, namely that magic and science are the same. They definitely are not- because fundamentally science cannot make something from nothing. With magic we have people that can create items (matter) out of thin air. This defies the First Law of Thermodynamics completely.**

**Some people might say that mana used to cast spells is a form of energy- and I would sort of agree with you. Maybe. Because humans can regenerate mana of course- the main problem with this ideology is that Momonga, an undead, manages to regain his magic as fast as any human, despite the fact that he doesn't need to eat. If he doesn't eat, where does the energy to replenish his mana come from? Again, he lives on 'negative energy' but the 'negative energy' mentioned in Yggdrasil lore doesn't seem to come from anywhere or need to be replenished somehow.**

**And again, take into account that there are magic items that allow one person to go without eating, like Aura. A person like that could still regain their mana however, so again- where does the 'energy' to convert into mana come from?**

**Unless you go ahead and completely redefine science to mean a system for understanding anything and throw away it's most basic principles- magic and science are definitely different. Sure, you can think about magic in a 'scientific' way like how it works for example and there are definitely people in the New World who study magic, but it is different from modern day (or even future day) science.**

**Sure, magic and science can coexist but there are problems that are going to arise. For example, invisibility magic. Does it protect from someone making a video of you with a video camera? That's an issue that is definitely going to come up a lot. Also, would divination magic detect small microphones/other bugging equipment? Again, something that's going to come up.**

**Also there is a bit of criticism that I made the guild members a bit more 'moral' than the original Overlord. I feel like in context it's fully justified- Momonga has a deeper connection to this world since it is his own world and he has his friend Hiroshi to ground him to reality.**

* * *

The Prime Minister of Japan was in a meeting with the current Health Minister. The Health Minister was a little shorter and younger than the former, but otherwise they were both quite similar in upbringing, dress, and mannerisms.

"Sir, we are having great trouble keeping up with this," the Health Minister said. "First of all, we don't have the resources to keep this farce up. We ran out of personal protective equipment in these last two days alone."

The Prime Minister frowned. "Are you telling me that we managed to spend our whole stock in two days?"

"Well, not exactly," the Health Minister replied. "We still have our emergency stock ready with us- but we can't use it when there's not an actual pandemic going around! What if later on, it turns out there's an actual emergency? Or if let's say, the Chinese try to use a bioweapon against us?"

The Prime Minister shrugged nonchalantly. "This isn't a time for us to debate what-ifs. There is a situation now, and we need to handle it."

"That's not the only problem," the Health Minister said. "We don't have the facilities to handle so much biomedical waste right now. And that's just the beginning."

He sighed.

"I think we should tell the public the truth," the Health Minister said. "I have had thousands of calls from physicians demanding more information on this virus- and we don't even have a name for this thing yet! People are going to start asking questions, and with all due respect, there's no way that we can keep this under wraps for so long! The Kenpeitai are running overtime already and are starting to rope in local law enforcement agencies into their operations just so that they can keep up with their own lack of manpower! So rather than wasting resources on a fake flu scare, we should just put the information out there! It's only going to get worse the longer we keep it hidden."

The Prime Minister had been listening to this rather passionate outburst with a stoic expression on his face. "Are you done? If so, good, because we will not be changing our plan. Do whatever you need to do to keep this under wraps. If you think it's a waste to start distributing hand sanitizer and safety gear, don't do it. Tell the workers they'll have to do without."

"They might strike if that happens," the Health Minister replied.

The Prime Minister smiled. "We're rather efficient at dealing with strikes in this day and age. Handle it."

The Health Minister did not voice his highest concern.

Namely, that the Kenpeitai were only truly discovering a fraction of the incidents that were popping up. That there were likely ten times as many people who had powers who were either not using them, or were hiding them very effectively. As such the amount of missed cases would pile on eventually until the news would break out like water through a crack in a dam. And it would be all the worse for them if that happened- they could get ahead of the situation by coming clean right now.

Case in point, the Health Minister himself.

He knew that he could use magic of the first tier- whatever that was supposed to be- deep in the recesses of his mind. He had not tried to use it up till now and refused to inform anyone that he had been granted powers as well. He would most likely end up being dissected or whatever else it was that the Kenpeitai did to people in order to figure out what was causing this strange phenomenon.

In reality, the Kenpeitai had not resorted to such means yet. They were using non-invasive methods such as real time MRIs to map out the suspects brains and to see what areas lit up when they used magic.

Of course, the Health Minister knew nothing of the Secret Police's going-ons, and so let out a heavy sigh of resignation as he got up to leave.

* * *

Hachiman didn't go to Suzuki's apartment directly- he had never actually been there and as such teleportation would not work.

For the time being he once again went back to his apartment to do a little bit more of intelligence gathering before he set out.

Highest up on his list was examining the storage devices he had managed to nab. They were marked with serial numbers but that didn't help him at all. He couldn't even figure out what kind of device was supposed to read these things.

Ah, forget about that.

He went onto Google Maps and searched up Suzuki's address.

Unfortunately he forgot that the Internet had been taken down.

He took a good fifteen minutes to cuss both the government and the MegaCorps as much as possible for finding yet another way to ruin his life. He then remembered he must have an offline one downloaded somewhere on there.

"Hey!" Hachiman called out to one of his favorite demons, a grotesque creature with five heads. He had forgotten its actual name and just called it 'Fido' in his head, as one of its heads was that of a dog's.

"Is this good enough to teleport there?" he asked. He transmitted his thoughts and described the rough location of where the apartment would be based on the information on his phone. He couldn't get an actual picture of the building, unfortunately, which would've made it far easier.

If Hachiman had any other frustrations, it was the fact that he couldn't cast spell by himself and had to rely on others to do it for him. It was definitely annoying, but the only thing he could think of to rectify this was to have his summons kill some people. That would grant him experience points, or at least it would in Yggdrasil.

But, he wasn't sure if that would work. And regardless, he didn't really have it in him to kill someone.

It was a fact that kind of put a damper on his plan to conquer the world- or at least forge his own country. He doubted anyone would just lie down and take it without challenging him- but he reasoned to himself that if peaceful negotiations failed, he would willingly go to war in that case.

It wouldn't be like he would be the one doing the killing, regardless.

As he thought about this, it made even more sense for him to rope in members of the old guild. If he was to establish a nation where people could generally be happy and live their lives separately from the greedy MegaCorps, he would first have to show them that life in his newly established country was better than the current status quo.

To do so he would need to show that the people living there would be happy- but to form his country he would first have to find an isolated patch of land, such as an unclaimed island and there would be no one there. As such, who would he have to show that he wasn't a raving lunatic?

Most people would shudder at the thought of living under the reign of a hoard of demons. Unless of course they knew Hachiman and were willing to trust him. As such, his country could start with the members of his old guild. They would at least understand what he was doing.

Well, maybe he wouldn't have to go down that route. If he brought out what the MegaCorps were hiding about Bellriver, perhaps the system itself would collapse and he could seize power from the inside.

Even then he would need loyal team members.

As Fido nodded in affirmation to Hachiman's question, Hachiman grinned and told them all to go there with **Greater Teleportation** and to then hide themselves.

They teleported outside the apartment.

The streets were mostly clear kudos to the quarantine.

"I know his apartment number," Hachiman said. "Third floor."

His summons understood even without him saying anything.

Only half of them could probably fit in a narrow corridor comfortable though, so the rest of them went back to his apartment to act as backup.

Once he was actually outside Suzuki's door though, Hachiman was unsure of what to do.

There was even a slim chance that this was no longer Suzuki Satoru's apartment anymore. He had not been in contact with the man for several months, and there was no way to contact him given that most of the Internet was down. He didn't have the man's phone number either.

As such, it was possible that Suzuki had died or just moved somewhere else and he was standing looking at someone else's apartment.

Even if that wasn't the case, how should he try to get into there?

None of his demons had any abilities that could pick locks.

As such, he could tear the door down, knock on it, or teleport inside directly.

He chose to knock first.

Though Hachiman didn't know this, there was someone inside the apartment.

Nigredo.

Her ears perked up when she heard the knocking. She had been tasked with guarding this apartment by Momonga-sama himself, but the thing was that even if one were quite generous the fact was that Suzuki's instructions to her had been quite lacking in terms of detail.

What was she to do now that there was a visitor?

She shuffled her legs slightly and cast some of her divination magic to see who it was.

There was a human surrounded by several demons in the hallway outside.

She shuddered now- she knew those demons were stronger than she was, and they outnumbered her.

Not good.

She sent a **Message **to Albedo immediately describing the situation and demanding reinforcements.

All she got was a confused reply.

Hachiman, by this point, had gotten impatient.

"There is someone inside though," one of his demons told him. "One I can sense."

"Whatever," Hachiman said. "Let's just break in. But make as little noise as possible."

One of his minions cast **Silence **on the area, which would cancel all noise there.

Magic truly was wonderful, Hachiman thought. If only he could use it himself...

His bitterness was exacerbated by the fact that in the game, he had been the strongest magic caster in his entire guild in terms of offensive ability. If he had power like that in real life- it would make even this demon army seem tame by comparison.

Another one of his soldiers made a hole in the door, and using this stuck a hand inside and opened it.

_I'm sorry if this frightens you, Suzuki-san, but I have lots of things to do and little time to do it._

Surprisingly, he heard no sounds of alarm even as he and his posse entered the apartment. If there was someone inside, shouldn't they have screamed when they saw the demons? Or was this an effect of the **Silence **spell?

"I thought there was someone here," Hachiman said with a frown as he came upon an empty apartment. And it was almost completely empty- it looked like Suzuki had indeed either moved away or died.

Before he could think anything else, a hand grabbed him and before he knew it he was pinned against the wall with something cold tickling his throat.

But that wasn't what made his blood freeze.

No, it was the face in front of him.

A horrible, twisted face which had no skin at all. The muscles and blood vessels were clearly visible.

It didn't even matter that he knew he had seen that face somewhere.

He screamed, but his voice did not carry down the hallway kudos to the **Silence **spell.

"Call your summons off," Nigredo said. "What are you doing in Momonga-sama's room?"

* * *

Takeshi was quite relieved when Suzuki finally arrived. There was another person with him in tow and that beautiful woman who was an NPC. He guessed, given the appearance of the human by Suzuki's side, that this might've been a guild member who had not transformed.

They had been shepherded to an area by the lake where one of the elf twins had made a makeshift podium.

It was kind of odd for a person to be relieved on seeing Suzuki in his skeletal form, but the fact that it was a game avatar put Takeshi's heart somewhat at ease.

Faces like that were common enough in Yggdrasil, and although this was far more detailed with the added dimension of real world sensory inputs such as touch, it was still easy enough to imagine this to be a somewhat more detailed DMMORPG.

"Welcome," Suzuki said, spreading his hands.

Though no one could see it on his skeletal face, Suzuki was racked with nervousness. This was like giving a huge presentation during a board meeting- except he knew none of the members surrounding him. And the crowd was larger than any he had ever faced. His nonexistent stomach ached. He was glad he had Hiroshi by him, so that he had some backup- but with the way that Albedo, Pestonya, and Mare all fixed their eyes on him he was even more afraid that he might slip up. He did not want to lower his image in the eyes of the guild's NPCs.

"I am Suzuki, the owner of this guild base," Suzuki said before rapidly correcting himself. "Or at least, one of the owners."

Oh no- why had he used the word 'guild base' already?

He was rather unsure of how he should start.

"How many among you have heard of the term- DMMORPG?" Suzuki asked.

Several hands went up. Well, that was nice.

"Have any of you played the DMMORPG Yggdrasil?" Suzuki added.

No hands went up except for Takeshi's.

"Ah, well," Suzuki began. "You may be aware that there was a large wall of light that enveloped the world a few days back- which also granted some of you magical abilities. Though this may be difficult to comprehend, the world in the game Yggdrasil was brought into the real world. I, am actually a human, but was transformed into my Yggdrasil avatar. What you see before you is my avatar, but my consciousness resides in this skeletal form. I am a human, much like all of you."

Suzuki cringed at how he said that last line. It sounded like something someone who was an alien would say.

"I do not know why this happened," Suzuki continued. "But since this coincided with when the wall of light enveloped this world, I can only assume that they are connected somehow. I also don't know why some of you were granted powers and not all of you. Regardless, the government clearly is trying to cover this up, which is why they wanted to take you all to what I can only assume is a concentration camp."

"So this is some sort of isekai?" someone in the audience shouted.

Albedo grimaced at the interruption of Momonga-sama's speech and was about to say something, but Suzuki waved her down with a hand.

"Well, I suppose so, yes," Suzuki said. "Everything you see here was my guild base in the game of Yggdrasil, and almost everyone here is an NPC. Given these circumstances, I hope that all of you can understand why you cannot return to Japan, or your homes. The government will still be after you, but you will be safe here."

"What about the pandemic?" someone else shouted.

Suzuki said, "There is no pandemic. It was a lie fabricated by the government in order to prevent mass panic from spreading."

It was at this moment that Albedo suddenly twitched. She had received a **Message **from her sister.

Something about a visitor at Momonga-sama's apartment. She frowned.

This was supposed to be a task to waste Nigredo's time- but why was there an actual visitor to his apartment?

She looked around. Pestonya and Mare seemed to be slightly confused with what Momonga-sama was saying- they would both need to have everything explained to them later on.

Given that Momonga-sama was in the middle of a speech, she thought it would be rude to interrupt it by telling him of this. She also didn't want to walk away- that might also distract him.

She just told Nigredo to handle the situation on her own. After all, it was probably just a few humans. Something she could handle on her own for now.

Suzuki continued, but then Albedo got yet another **Message **from Nigredo. Telling her that there were demons who had intruded in the room.

Albedo wavered.

She was unsure of what she should do. Given the circumstances Nigredo was describing, she clearly needed reinforcements. As Guardian Overseer, this fell perfectly into her purview. But she had a feeling that Momonga-sama would also want to know about this.

"Momonga-sama!" she called out an pulled on his sleeve.

Suzuki, bewildered, turned around. "Yes, Albedo?"

"A situation has developed with Nigredo," Abledo said.

"Ah, apologies," Suzuki muttered to the crowd before turning to the side.

In his place, Hiroshi stepped up and introduced himself before continuing with the conversation.

"Some intruders have come to your apartment," Albedo said.

Suzuki was shocked. No one should have been visiting him- that was why he had given Nigredo that location to stay in the first place!

Or had the police somehow gotten wind of his activities and his real life identity?

"Several of them are demons," Albedo said. "All of them seem to have been summoned by a single human. They are too strong for her to fight, but she has taken their summoner hostage for the time being. However, she will be quickly overwhelmed if we do not send in forces and reinforcements arrive."

Suzuki racked his brains for a solution. "All right, let us go then. Bring Mare along as well."

"Understood," Albedo said.

Suzuki didn't bother explaining himself as he grabbed onto Albedo and Mare. Mare seemed confused, but Albedo quickly told him they had to go on a mission.

Suzuki sent a **Message **to Hiroshi telling him that he had to go somewhere.

* * *

Once Hachiman was done screaming- at the end he was sure he had damaged his vocal cords in some way- he was able to process the fact that Nigredo, an NPC of Nazarick, was standing over him.

Granted she was no sight for sore eyes even when she wasn't trying to be terrifying- and as such her current malice only added to the fear he naturally felt when seeing her hold those scissor blades two millimetres away from his eye sockets.

"You picked the wrong house, fool!" Nigredo said.

"Eh, eh, Nigredo, it's me, Ulbert, chill, chill!" Hachiman said and winced as he spoke those words. Talking hurt for some reason- yeah he had definitely damaged his vocal cords.

Nigredo normally would've carved up his face at pretending to be one of the Supreme Beings- but then she recalled how Herohero-sama was also a human. So there was a slight possibility this person was telling the truth.

She was currently surrounded by demons who outnumbered her and would have been able to defeat her were it not for the fact that she had taken their summoner hostage.

For a while they just stared at each other, with Hachiman realizing the fact that Nigredo's face did not become easier to look at the longer you saw it. No- it just got worse.

Eventually after what felt like an eternity a dark void opened up in the apartment and a familiar face walked out of it.

Hachiman couldn't help but smile.

He had thought that he had been lucky when he had stumbled on the World Item.

But he had been wrong.

Clearly Momonga had been the lucky one.

* * *

"Is this all?" Hayato asked as he put on the mask handed to him. "I got a full biohazard suit yesterday."

"Sorry," the supplier said. "We're reviewing how the virus spreads and how deadly it is, and a mask is precaution enough. A biohazard suit is only needed for those interacting intimately with patients."

It seemed to be odd to Hayato, but he put on his mask and went on his way.

The location was buzzing with police and there were even some members of the Kempeitai.

It looked like some major crap went down here.

Hayato only let the fact that this was the development center for Yggdrasil linger for a moment before reporting to the officer in charge.

"Talk with them first," he motioned to the Kempeitai. "They're explaining what happened."

Hayato was led to a room where there were a few other officers. A Kempeitai officer walked in and removed his helmet.

"I don't have a lot of time to waste, but I need to catch all of you up to speed," he said. "Without a doubt though, I should tell you that whatever you're hearing is absolutely classified. If any of you leak out this information-"

He didn't even need to finish his sentence.

"There is no real virus," he said. 'It is a cover by the government for the real problem- several days back people all over the world have been developing strange magic powers."

A chill went down Hayato's spine as he thought about Draudillon. Hayato raised his hand as if to ask a question, but the officer looked at him as if Hayato had insulted his mother so Hayato put it back down.

"We have reason to believe that this facility here was involved somehow, though unfortunately everyone here was found dead due to as of yet unconfirmed causes," the officer continued. "However, an unknown perpetrator broke in and took two of the bodies as well as some evidence."

A television was wheeled in and a recording was played.

There were some people examining what Hayato guessed was the crime scene when out of nowhere several figures appeared in the room. One of them was masked and looked sort of human, but the others were definitely either monsters or very good cosplayers.

Within a span of fifteen seconds they were also gone.

"Now, the pieces of evidence that this perpetrator took thankfully had tracking devices on them," the officer explained. "Unfortunately, it is rather hard to hunt this group of individuals down given that they seem to be capable of teleporting anywhere at will."

Hayato had to admit that it was unlikely that these people would ever be caught if that was the case.

"As such," the officer said. "We are going to be stationing you at various marked intervals throughout the city. When he stops long enough at one place we'll find him and you will go to wherever this criminal is and apprehend him. Any questions?"

The last statement was clearly rhetorical but Hayato put his hand up anyway. The other regular policemen there looked at him if he was crazy, but he wanted some answers.

"Yes?"

"What sort of powers do these people have?" Hayato asked.

"We've had tale of various things- healing injuries, flying, shooting fireballs, creating electricity, and as you can see- teleporting."

Hayato put his hand up in the air again.

"Yes?!"

"If this person can teleport even if we confront him, what can we do?" Hayato asked a rather obvious question. "He'll just run again."

"We kill him," the officer said. "Given that we can't seem to be able to contain him, that is all we can do. You'll be with other members of the Kempeitai where you're stationed."

Hayato still had a question- namely why the officer seemed to think the perpetrator was a man but he didn't raise his hand again.

"Understood? Good," the officer said and left as each of them were handed envelopes.

* * *

Ivangorod was a village near the prior Estonian border in Russia. Even before China's civil war, Russia had declined in population, wealth, and power. This had only continued after the war.

Still, it was a mildly popular tourist center at certain times, although most of its scenic beauty was gone it still housed a large museum with historic value.

The residents enjoyed mostly peaceful lives and tried to eke out as much out of life as their situations would allow.

That was, until tonight. For tonight was the night the wall of light had changed the world forever.

Every single resident, at 8:06 A.M. local time suddenly erupted into wave of severe, agonizing pain.

Many of those who were driving crashed their cars. Many of them died instantly, while those who survived found that the pain from their new injuries were nothing compared to the pain that they were feeling.

Those who were still religious prayed for god, for anyone, to take their pain away.

Those who had access to painkillers found they did nothing, not even narcotics could dull the pain they were feeling.

Eventually all of them passed out.

* * *

Around 150 kilometers away was the city of St. Petersburg.

Three days after the incident in Ivangorod, one of the city guards noticed something odd on the horizon.

The panic regarding numerous people suddenly gaining magic powers had not set off any major alarm bells in Russia as of yet. Things all across the country were shut down, of course, but other than that things were mostly peaceful.

This was about to change.

"Eh? Why is there a crowd of people milling about?" one of their superiors asked.

Traffic was mostly closed across the country. But these people were travelling on foot.

The guards thought little of this but couldn't help but look on as the crowd drew closer and closer.

Who were these people? There were over a thousand of them based on appearance.

"If they draw any closer, we'll have to shoot them," a voice said.

The guards thought this was rather extreme given that these were most likely civilians, but they would comply with the orders nonetheless.

Looking through his binoculars, one guard noticed something odd about the crowd.

"Are they... crawling on the ground?"

Their motion was rather odd, and within minutes they were almost at the barricades which had been erected for the quarantine. They seemed to move faster and with more purpose the closer that they got.

"Do not let them in!" an officer shouted.

Now, it was plainly obvious to anyone who had eyes that these were not normal people.

Their skin was ashen and their eyeballs were a shade of dark black. Drool dripped down their chins and with a sudden rush of speed they ran towards the guards.

"Fire!"

Some of them began to fire, but strangely enough bullets to the legs and arms seemed to do nothing to slow these people down.

One guard was down- and the others watched out of the corners of their eyes as the attackers _bit _at the officer.

There was only one way to describe such people- even though no one wanted to give voice to what they all feared deep inside.

Zombies.

They all began aiming at the heads of these assailants.

**A/N: So thanks for reading guys!**

**I think a lot of you have figured out what's happening in Russia- and even though in the main series it hasn't been confirmed if ECDL is still around, I'm sort of assuming that he is.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Wow, I just realized that I am getting a lot of flak for my comments on magic and science, so please let me just say a few things.**

**First of all, someone pointed out that mana is energy and so making objects from mana is like making objects from energy, something completely valid according to modern science. However- the fact that mana seems to come from nowhere is still not addressed. After all, energy can't be destroyed or created, a fundamental law, but people get their mana back over several hours automatically. You could point out that they might get the energy from food they eat- but people like Ainz do not eat, and the amount of calories one would gain from food is not even close enough to provide enough energy for what someone such as even Fluder Paradyne can do. Take for example, the [Fly] spell- do you have any idea how much energy it would take to suspend a human being in the sky like that? Someone like Arche could not eat enough to maintain something like that. Not to mention there are magic items which remove your need to eat, so someone like Mare could cast spells without eating and so without any viable external energy source.**

**So yeah, magic does essentially make something from nothing.**

**For those of you saying that science is a system of understanding the world and would therefore just adapt to magic and start studying it with the new rules that magic has, yes, you can do that, but I did specifically say that 'modern day' science was incompatible with magic.**

**Also if you're studying the rules of magic in a logical manner, that's usually just considered studying magic, though the manner is scientific.**

**Also I'm not discounting science entirely in this series, people will use modern technology a lot.**

**The line about 'magic being superior to science' is actually also borrowed from the Evileye sidestory.**

**But enough- no more talking about magic and science. I'm done with that conversation.**

**Moving on, someone pointed out that woods should not exist in this futuristic world where there's so much pollution. Possibly- that was on oversight on my part. But maybe I could say that America isn't too badly polluted or these are a specific species of tree that can survive the pollution. But yeah, that is kind of retconning- I should've been more alert to something like this.**

* * *

"So these aren't your real eyes then?" Hachiman asked.

He had thought that Suzuki's eyes might have been two lightbulbs, but as his fingers went into Suzuki's eye sockets he could feel nothing but bone. As his fingers approached the gleaming points of light they faded away.

"Ah, they are. Sort of," Suzuki said. "Ah, could you please stop doing that?" Having someone put their fingers into your eye sockets was weird even if it didn't hurt. He could also somewhat feel Hachiman poking around his eye sockets, and suffice to say it was an unpleasant experience.

"Ah, sorry," Hachiman said sheepishly and withdrew his fingers. He had gotten carried away slightly with his curiosity.

Albedo, who was standing guard in the room quietly, had to restrain herself. How dare this person- even if they were also a Supreme Being, annoy Momonga-sama like that?

Not to mention if there was anyone who got a chance to finger Momonga-sama's holes it should be her- wait, that came out wrong, even in her head.

Mare, who was also standing guard looked cautiously at Hachiman. Everyone in the Great Tomb of Nazarick had heard tales of Ulbert Alain Odle-sama- and based on what he had heard Mare had been expecting someone as sinister and imposing as Momonga-sama himself- but this was just a normal human!

Mare was snapped out of his reverie when suddenly Momonga-sama turned to address him. He fought the urge to panic- he had been so engrossed in examining Hachiman he had neglected to pay attention to the conversation at hand and had no idea what was going on.

"I need you to go back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick and fetch Demiurge," Suzuki said.

As Suzuki had never met Hachiman in real life, he had no way of confirming that this really was Ulbert. But, this person did know a lot about the guild. Such information might have been stolen, or alternatively extracted using magical means from the real Hachiman. As such, Suzuki wanted Demiurge to confirm that this was his creator before he took them all back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

"So are you really Suzuki? Or did all of our avatars come to life?" Hachiman asked. He was excited by the prospect of his demonic form wandering around the Great Tomb.

"No, only I was turned into my avatar," Suzuki said. "I think it was because I was online when the server shutdown."

"Damn it!" Hachiman swore, causing Mare to jump where he was standing. "I would've stayed online if I knew that was going to happen!"

"Hiroshi was thinking the same thing," Suzuki said.

"...Who was Hiroshi again?" Hachiman asked.

"Herohero," Suzuki replied.

"Ah right, forgot some of their names," Hachiman said.

Suzuki turned his head towards the NPCs- he would have to have 'the talk' with them soon now regarding the fact that they were all video game characters. Hopefully they would take it well. And if not, well, the mere thought made his stomach ache. Even though he didn't have a stomach anymore.

Hachiman then leaned in closer to Suzuki. "So if you're a skeleton, you don't have a, well, _down there_ do you?"

"Uh..." Suzuki said and waved his hand in order to make a **Gate **spell. "Mare- you should get going now." Suzuki then tossed the boy a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown so he could also come back quickly, in spite of his protests.

"Yes, Momonga-sama!" Mare finally said as the boy agreed to accept the ring and ran into the portal.

"Well, no," Suzuki said in a low voice. Whenever people met him and learned he had been turned into his avatar that was the first question that came to their minds.

_Maybe I should just get myself a business card- and have it say 'I was once a human, and no, I do not have a d*ck if you're wondering.' It would probably save me the embarrassment of having to explain the fact to every single person I meet._

While Suzuki was being mortified by these thoughts, Hachiman was wondering if it would be worth it to sacrifice his manhood in exchange for dark magical powers. On the one hand, he was mostly sure his own avatar would keep that specific feature, but he had to wonder if Suzuki wasn't maybe thinking of going back to his normal body. He doubted that everyone would be as eager to turn into their avatars as he was.

* * *

The portal led to sixth floor, which naturally was where Demiurge should have been.

Except he was nowhere to be found.

"Demiurge? Demiurge?" Mare shouted before realizing he could just try a **Message **spell to contact him.

"Ah, Mare, what seems to be the matter?" Demiurge asked.

"I have a message. You have to come to Momonga-sama's side immediately." Mare said.

"Ah, of course, I will make my way to- where am I to go?"

"I'll teleport the two of us there once you tell me where you are," Mare said. "i have a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown from Momonga-sama, and I think we should hurry."

"Ah? I am at the bar on the ninth floor. What is the emergency?"

"Oh- Ulbert-sama has just appeared and-" Mare then noticed that the **Message **spell had ended, because Demiurge had cut the call from his end.

A few seconds later, Demiurge called Mare.

"Take me there this instant!"

"Uwah!" Mare cried out.

He didn't perform well under pressure. Or even when he wasn't under pressure.

Because even when there wasn't anyone else pressuring him- Mare would find a way to stress himself out regardless.

* * *

"So any other news?" Hachiman asked. Suzuki had given him a brief rundown on what had happened but had left some details out.

For example, Suzuki had not mentioned Tabula yet as Nigredo was still in the room and was instead examining the World Class Item- the Emblem of the Baphomet Lord.

It was definitely a World Item, though Suzuki realized that as long as Hachiman's summons existed he couldn't actually use the item and only Hachiman could. The only way to transfer ownership of the item would be to kill Hachiman.

The World Class Item did raise a question as it was supposed to drain XP whenever it was used, meaning that Hachiman would quickly run out if he kept using it. Had Hachiman forgotten about this limitation? He seemed to have summoned far more demons than was necessary.

"Nothing really important so far," Suzuki muttered absentmindedly.

"I have to say though, I really admire the fact that you guys went out of your way to rescue those people," Hachiman said. "I hadn't even thought about exposing anything I had done to the public- yet. But you're telling me they're on the fifth floor?"

"Yes," Suzuki said. "Hiroshi is given them an orientation, so to speak."

"Great, you're already doing what I had planned," Hachiman said.

"Eh?" Suzuki asked.

"Aren't you trying to start your own country?" Hachiman asked.

At these words Albedo let out a soft gasp but tried to hide it. As it was only Nigredo noticed it, for Suzuki was too shocked and Hachiman too excited to pay her any attention.

"E-Eh?" Suzuki repeated again, flabbergasted.

"It was the only thing that I thought of, you know," Hachiman said. "I mean, you took some people who have a reason to trust you, and you're sort of having them acclimatize to being in Nazarick, right? I mean, there's even another player whom you mentioned, so they should be able to get along with the other NPCs as well. Not to mention they can't go back to Japan."

Hachiman smiled. "I mean, they would be the perfect first citizens for the new country that we make!"

Hachiman sadly had jumped several steps ahead and assumed that Suzuki's mind had already reached the same conclusion that he had already in his head.

Hachiman figured that if he had realized that making a country should be their ultimate goal, Suzuki should have also figured that out.

Suzuki Satoru, of course, had no clue what Hachiman was getting act. In a normal situation his face would betray this fact, but due to his skeletal features his expression was mostly open to interpretation.

Thankfully at that time a **Gate **opened up into the room and Demiurge walked in as well as did Mare, saving Suzuki from any embarrassment of having no clue as to what Hachiman was getting at.

Demiurge, on seeing Hachiman, widened his eyes.

Surely...?

No, his eyes could not deceive him. This was certainly his creator.

"Demiurge?" Hachiman exclaimed. It was surreal to see his own NPC brought to life.

"Indeed, Ulbert-sama," Demiurge said and kneeled.

"Well, no need for that," Hachiman said and tapped Demiurge on the shoulder.

Suzuki supposed that was enough evidence to convince him that this really was Ulbert. In that case, they should get going.

"Alright then, let's head back to the Tomb," Suzuki said. "I think we should head for the Conference Room to discuss further matters- Hiroshi should be done wrapping things up by now."

"Yeah," Hachiman said and beckoned to his army of demons to follow him through the **Gate **that Suzuki had created.

"Albedo, Mare, please return to where we were and convey my message to Hiroshi telling him to meet up with us," Suzuki said. "Also, handle the further integration of the people with the Great Tomb of Nazarick if any issues arise. Demiurge, as you were- and Nigredo, um-"

He wasn't sure of what to do. He still couldn't have her come back to the Tomb, so he said, "Keep guarding my apartment."

"As you wish, Momonga-sama," Nigredo said and bowed. Hachiman had messed up her hair so it completely covered her face, but as she moved, the curtain of black locks parted to reveal a sliver of the horror hidden beneath.

Hachiman shuddered. If anything- he was glad that he wouldn't have to look at that face again.

Granted Nigredo had been standing at the side and was easy to ignore, and although Hachiman knew that he would be horrified upon viewing her face, it was as if some strange desire kept compelling him to look into her direction every few seconds.

Nigredo watched everyone else leave the apartment.

Neither she nor Hachiman had noticed that he had left some things behind- the small storage devices which were evidence from the laboratory.

Hachiman had forgotten all about them in his excitement.

Nigredo noticed them later but figured that Ulbert-sama must have left them there on purpose. He was a Supreme Being, after all.

* * *

Suzuki and his group entered the ninth floor.

"I've already called Hiroshi, so he should be joining us soon," Suzuki said.

"If you don't mind, Ulbert-sama, may I have a word?" Demiurge asked Hachiman.

"Uh, yeah, sure, hey Suzuki, I'll catch up with you in a moment," Hachiman said.

"Alright," Suzuki said, though he was slightly worried as to why Demiurge wanted to talk to Hachiman. Suzuki doubted that Demiurge would want to hurt Hachiman, but given the archfiend's nature, it was not out of the question that Hachiman, a human could be in danger. He almost considered accompanying Hachiman, but upon seeing Hachiman's expression, he then decided against it. It was as if he was an outsider interfering in a parent-child relationship, after all.

Demiurge and Hachiman trailed behind the rest of the crowd and Hachiman opened the door to what he guessed was his room. He didn't remember the layout of the Great Tomb that well. Ah, even if it wasn't, there weren't too many other guild members around, so it wouldn't really make a difference.

"So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" Hachiman asked as he closed the door.

He had observed his custom NPC very closely, but Demiurge had maintained a flawless poker face which didn't really allow Hachiman to get any idea as to what his creation was thinking.

He still sort of remembered how he had programmed Demiurge, but it wasn't as if he had memorized the character description by heart. Also, he had let Yggdrasil in general slip through his mind over the past few months. He had had bigger things to take care of.

Now though he regretted not staying longer.

These thoughts were interrupted by a sound he had never thought that he would ever hear and a sight he had never imagined he would ever see.

Demiurge had genuflected perfectly, but there were tears streaming down his face.

Hachiman was unaware that Demiurge was even capable of crying given his status as an archfiend and the fact that his eyes were diamonds, let alone that he would actually ever do so.

"Ulbert-sama..." Demiurge said, his shoulders shaking as he wiped away the tears from his face. "Pardon the unsightly appearance of your creation... but... but..."

Hachiman had no children or any siblings for that matter, but at the moment he forgot about all his earlier thoughts of Bellriver and world conquest and was overcome with paternal feelings for Demiurge. His other demons, who were also present in the room, were silent.

Hachiman placed a hand on Demiurge's shoulder. Demiurge flinched- though Hachiman knew that it couldn't have possibly been because he had accidentally hurt him. He was level one hundred, of course, and Hachiman probably couldn't even scratch him if he wanted to.

"It's not a problem," Hachiman said. "Whatever the problem or issue is, you can tell me."

Hachiman was a bitter and cynical person at heart and he felt like he had exhausted his tears long ago. As such, he had a rather low opinion of people who allowed themselves to cry in public.

Public meltdowns were not entirely uncommon in the world of 2138. Japanese society had remained quite stagnant in many a aspect, including the fact that one was to put up a façade whenever in public. Caving into your emotions was a sign of weakness- particularly if you weren't a woman.

Still, eventually the pressure reached a boiling point and someone would just snap.

Usual protocol in such a situation would be too just ignore the person for a while. After a good cry they'd usually come to their senses and get back to work, and everyone would pretend that it never happened.

Hachiman did not treat Demiurge with reproach however. His face radiated kindness.

It was a kindness that Demiurge could not understand- much as how Hachiman couldn't figure out how exactly Demiurge's diamond eyes were able to leak liquid. Were his tears actually liquid gemstones or something? Whatever- there were more important matters at hand here than that.

How was it that Ulbert-sama was treating him so nicely when clearly Demiurge had failed him?

"Do you not feel ashamed of your servant?" Demiurge asked. "At his- at my- failures?"

"Failures?" Hachiman asked. "I don't think you have ever failed me."

"Then why- why did you not come back?" Demiurge asked. "Why did you never come back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick, unless it was because you were disappointed with me?"

Hachiman now put two and two together. "Oh- Demiurge- I would have loved to return to the game. I didn't not come back because I didn't like you- the opposite really. Just... some things happened and I couldn't come back. Some things out of my control."

"Out of the control of one such as yourself?" Demiurge asked incredulously.

Hachiman wasn't sure how to proceed. Demiurge clearly thought that his persona of Ulbert was how he really was- and while Hachiman would on some level love to pretend to be Ulbert, at the same time he knew he really wasn't the Demon of Great Disaster.

"It's difficult to explain right now," Hachiman said. "If you ask me again, I'll try to flesh it out for you. But later."

Hachiman wasn't sure how to continue. Ah, maybe his days of role playing would finally pay off here?

Hachiman straightened himself. "As for now, I, Ulbert Alain Odle do command you to rise! Wipe away the tears from your eyes, and instead devote yourself to my service, my creation!"

Demiurge stood up so rapidly that Hachiman was sure that had Demiurge been human, the rapid change of posture would've led to decreased blood flow to his brain and cause him to faint.

"As my god commands of me!" Demiurge said.

_Huh, so that worked. Now what should I do though?_

He felt bad for 'abandoning' Demiurge, though it had not been intentional. How should he try to make it up to him? How would one normally express that they were sorry?

"Ah," Hachiman said. "I have a present for you, as a thanks for your service."

Wasn't that how one usually apologized? With a gift, usually a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates or such? Well, now that he blurted those words out he realized that neither of those things would particularly appeal to Demiurge. Also, given the severity of what Hachiman had done, he didn't really think either of those things would suffice.

"Bu-But I have not done anything worthy of your kindness!" Demiurge protested.

"You don't have to," Hachiman said. "Just you being here, by my side, means more than I could possibly express with words."

Whatever. He'd figure out exactly what he wanted to give Demiurge later.

Demiurge now seemed close to tears again, those these seemed to be of joy. "This one does not deserve such words! But I will definitely do my best to fulfil all of your commands, O Great Creator!"

"And don't worry about it," Hachiman said. "I'm not going anywhere for a long time. The two of us can spend eternity hatching up diabolical schemes together."

He meant that last part as a joke, but he had a feeling that Demiurge took it quite literally. "Of course! There could be no greater honor!"

* * *

Hayato had thought that maybe the universe was punishing him earlier.

Now he was one hundred percent certain he _was_ being punished. If not necessarily by the universe, then by that Kenpeitai captain. He was probably trying to get back at Hayato for the earlier meeting.

Why else would he be stuck with these officers?

There was Nobita, who was currently snoozing away at his desk despite being on duty- which incidentally made him the least annoying of Hayato's new compatriots.

Hayato wasn't sure how to rank the other two officers.

On the one hand, Yashimoto was constantly talking absolute nonsense. If he hadn't known better, Hayato would've assumed that his strange behavior had been precipitated by the recent quarantine, but no, Nobita assured him that he was always like this.

"I'm telling you man," Yashimoto said. "The government's hiding stuff from us. I heard from a friend- unofficial line of course- that there were some people in Novgorod- or maybe it was St. Petersburg, ah, don't remember but it really isn't that important, that people somewhere were eating other people! There was even this video- sorry, they took it down of course, where there's someone trying to bite another person's nose off!"

Hayato had learned by this point that the appropriate response if he wanted Yashimoto to shut up was to just nod and act surprised.

_Of course_ the government was hiding things from them- this whole business about magic coming to life had been hidden. As if Yashimoto could read these thoughts just by looking at Hayato's face, he also added, "I mean, I don't think this is the full story, man. There's not just magic going around, there's only one logical explanation-" He paused here for dramatic effect. "Zombies! There's a zombie outbreak in Russia, and _that _is the real disease they're trying to cover up! It's just like in Apocalypse 2240!"

Apocalypse 2240 was a Dive RPG involving zombies or something along those lines- Hayato had never played it. Thankfully it seemed that Yashimoto was no longer inclined to actually talk any further.

Hayato smiled awkwardly and turned his head towards the third-and whom he had finally concluded as the worst- member of the group.

Sushanto was a man of Indian ancestry, as such his features set him apart from everyone else. What also set him apart was his complete absence of a work ethic. Even Nobita could find the wherewithal to get up and go on his rounds when called for (and also fall asleep almost instantly once his job was done). However, Sushanto could not manage even that.

Hayato was told that Sushanto was the son of an ambassador and as such his family had far-reaching political connections, which was how he got away with doing absolutely nothing and pawning off all his work to the other three.

Nobita and Yashimoto seemed to be used to this and take it as an unfortunate fact of life, though Hayato was not so compliant.

Up till now, their jobs consisted of sitting around and waiting to be called to certain locations to confirm whether or not there was any paranormal activity going on. As of now, they had had not success. And no, Sushanto had not gone on any of the patrols.

As such, when another alert came up asking for a patrolman, Hayato crossed his arms when Sushanto looked his way, indicating that he was not going to put up with any more of it. This might've been irresponsible on hindsight given that he was probably already in hot water with the higher-ups considering that he as assigned to this squad in the first place, but he didn't want to give in as easily as the others.

Sushanto sighed when he saw he wasn't getting his way, and to Hayato's surprise seemed to resign himself to the fact that he would actually have to do some work.

"So, where is this place then..." Sushanto muttered to himself. He had the slightest bit of an accent, indicating he may have immigrated in his early childhood. "So, an apartment owned by someone by the name of... Suzuki Satoru? That sounds-"

Hayato didn't actually hear the rest of what Sushanto said as he himself took a glance at the screen.

While he had never visited Suzuki Satoru in person- although something like that had been planned at one time- he did remember vague tidbits about the guild leader's life. He lived in an apartment- but was it this apartment? It could be someone else by the same name... but still...

"You know what?" Hayato said as he grabbed his mask and jacket. "I'll go ahead with this one."

Sushanto seemed surprised. "Wait- do you know this guy or something?"

Hayato frowned and said. "Well, if you don't want me to go, you're always free to."

Sushanto seemed to weigh in whether he was curious enough about this to actually have to go to work, and seemed to realize that he did not. "Suit yourself."

* * *

The Round Table Room was seeing activity it had not seen for many years.

Granted, it was still quite empty by the standards of when the guild had been in its heyday, but three people was a peak that it had not seen in a long time. Three guild members, that is.

When Hachiman walked in, he first introduced himself to Hiroshi. The two had never met in real life, so their greetings were as of yet quite formal and stiff.

At the moment, the NPCs had been ordered not to enter the room, and they obliged even though Albedo seemed to have a bit of defiance on that note though she didn't openly voice any issues.

"Sorry for being late," Hachiman said. "I was just talking to Demiurge."

"Oh? How is he?" Hiroshi asked.

"Fine... I mean, you did know him already, though, right?" Hachiman asked.

"Ah, no- sorry, I wanted to ask you how it was meeting him?" Hiroshi asked. "I met up with Solution- and it was an ah, interesting experience to say the least."

"Well, yes, I would agree on that front," Hachiman said. "Though, if you don't mind me asking- who was Solution again?"

"One of the Pleiades," Hiroshi said.

"The one with blonde hair?"

"Precisely."

"Sorry, again, I haven't been keeping up with the game or the guild unfortunately," Hachiman apologized again. "I was caught up in some real life things."

"No issue, I was pretty much absent all the time," Hiroshi said.

"Though I would've really stuck around if I knew what was going to happen," Hachiman grumbled. "Do we still have Race changing items? Do they still even work?"

Suzuki had gone on a slight reverie. It had been quite some time since he had seen two of his friends interact with each other in a way like this. Granted, when he had envisioned the guild reuniting, he had not thought it would be in such a way, especially not with one of the guild members currently being kind of held hostage in a room.

"Ah... sorry! My thoughts were elsewhere," Suzuki said. "We have not tried to use items such as Race changing items, though many spells and items we've tested out and they seem to work."

"Uh, but something we have to tell you though," Hiroshi said while twiddling his thumbs. It was hard to say what he was about to without flinching.

He explained where Tabula was right now.

"Uh..." Hachiman seemed to be speechless for a while. "Well, honestly on some level I think that's sort of messed up, but I kind of have done some messed up things myself, I think way more than what you guys did in some ways, so..." He trailed off.

"If he wants to leave, we'll let him," Suzuki hastily interjected. "We simply did not think that he was in the right state of mind given his intoxication. Also, even Albedo, his NPC creation, agreed to it, so we thought it would be fine."

"But we don't think Nigredo would agree," Hiroshi asked. "So we've kind of hidden it from her..."

There was an awkward silence that pervaded the air.

"Well, let's cross that bridge when we get to it," Hachiman said. "I'm sure once he's sobered up, he'll come to. But you guys aren't hiding any other guild members, are you?"

"Ah, no," Hiroshi said.

"Strange, I was kind of expecting him to be here as well," Hachiman said, glancing around.

"Touch Me?"

"Yeah," Hachiman said. Despite their rivalry, if there was one other person that Hachiman was interested in seeing other than Peroroncino and the two gathered here, it was him. "I thought you would all want to recruit him definitely. But oh yeah- I suppose if he isn't in his avatar he's not of that much use anyway." It wasn't so much that he cared for him as the fact that he was simply interested in knowing what he had been up to- as many people would often naturally wonder what happened to the most popular kid in their high school class even ten years after graduating.

"We'll look into it," Suzuki said. 'I mean, we do want to eventually reach out to everyone, even if they don't want to join us. If they don't want to join us, it's fine, but I feel like we should definitely make attempts to contact all of them."

"The only difficulty is that even if someone doesn't want to join us," Hiroshi said, "is that the NPCs most likely will side with them."

"Those of us who have families might find it hard to deal with," Hachiman said. While he was glad that Demiurge was up and walking about, he could understand that some people would probably not be very found knowing that their 'creations' were now real. Bukubukuchagama would probably scream if she ever saw Mare. Also, some of them might already have children of their own. An NPC, it seemed, was sort of like having another adopted child, so how that dynamic would work was going to cause massive headaches for almost everyone involved.

"I wanted to ask you something else," Hiroshi said, interrupting Hachiman's train of thought. "Do you know what 'Martial Arts' are?"

"Hmm? You mean like kung-fu?" Hachiman asked.

"No, I mean in the game, Yggdrasil," Hiroshi said. "I was training- sort of, to gain experience and stuff, and I unlocked a new ability but I've never seen it anywhere before or even heard of the term 'Martial Art.'

"Neither have I," Hachiman said. "To think- you managed to unlock something new in the real world! It must be something that was normally hidden by the devs."

Hachiman then leaned forward in his chair to take a sip of orange juice from the platter of food left in the room. Man- that was stuff was refreshing! It was some of the best stuff he had ever had. Even normal, natural juice with minimum artificial preservatives had been a luxury. Anything that was remotely healthy- or god forbid, 'organically grown' was beyond the realm of possibility for a worker like him to consume more than once or twice a year. "Talking is all well and good, but there's a little problem I think I need to tell you guys about too. It's concerning Bellriver. I think both of you know he's dead?"

"Bellriver's dead?!" Hiroshi exclaimed. Suzuki, however, stroked his chin as he did remember hearing something like that, but the details were a bit fuzzy.

"I think I did hear of it once," Suzuki said.

"I think I was the one who told you," Hachiman said. He then laid out the facts and details of the 'Bellriver Conspiracy' as he had coined it inside of his head and all of the efforts he had made in order to uncover the truth. He finished with, "Too bad resurrection doesn't seem to work, or I'd just bring him back."

"Eh? What are you talking about? We've resurrected some people," Hiroshi said.

"The ones I tried it on just burnt to ashes," Hachiman said with a frown, telling them about the two senior employees he had tried to bring back.

"Perhaps with a higher tier ability," Suzuki said. "Or even perhaps with a World Class Item resurrection could be guaranteed?" He then glanced at one of the rings on his finger. The Shooting Star ring did allow one to access various Super Tier spells in Yggdrasil, and one of them was a powerful resurrection spell that bypassed normal level loss requirements. "Or Wish Upon A Star? I think that could do it if we could find a body."

Hachiman nearly leapt up from the table at the suggestion. "Good idea- no, great idea! I should've thought of it myself! Let's go!" He then faltered. "Uh, to be honest, I don't know where Bellriver was buried or if maybe he was cremated."

"We'll have to find it out then," Suzuki said.

"That'll be hard with everything locked down," Hiroshi said.

Hachiman grinned. "True, but so long as we things such as **Charm **and **Dominate **we can always get someone else to do it for us."

And so, around this table, where they had planned out various raids and missions, they were once again beginning to cement a plan for another guild mission: the revive Bellriver!


End file.
